


no one can tell where your heart is

by macccachino (krunchy)



Series: cracks in the walls and a light shining through [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: But also, Detectives at work, Falling In Love, Fluff, Gavin is an emotional cactus and needs a hug, Hurt/Comfort, I AM JUST VERY BUSY BUT I AM WRITING TT__TT, I KNOW UPDATES ARE VERY SLOW ATM BUT IT'S NOT DEAD I PROMISE, M/M, Mild Angst, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Tags will be added as this thing progresses, also Gavin's into stargazing, and RK900 is a sassy but soft boy here, but also lots of bickering and fighting at the beginning, but no beta we die like men, drugs and drug trafficking, excessive coffee consumption, fandom: hey we usually call RK900 something starting with C or Richard, fight me David Cage, honestly Gavin's last name should be Gilmore instead, ish, me: that's cool and all but Imma need to call him sth completely different, now with art, there is also, trying to make Gavin a less one-dimensional character than he is in-game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-05-29 10:59:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15071762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krunchy/pseuds/macccachino
Summary: He doesn't need anyone.But more importantly: He doesn'twantanyone.Gavin gets a new partner. Things escalate from there.





	1. the world around you

**Author's Note:**

> So, my life has been taken over by this pairing and then I had the idea for this... I haven't written anything in a long time, and certainly never anything so long, so please be gentle with me :')
> 
> Title taken from 'To all of you' by Syd Matters from the Life Is Strange soundtrack

Detective Gavin Reed mostly prefers to work alone. It's something well known throughout the station.  **  
**

At first, Captain Fowler keeps assigning him a new partner every time another one quits, but no one wants to work with Gavin for longer than they have to. It's not like he tries to get anyone to stay either. Quite the contrary. Oh, he'll work with people if he has to, but he never gets particularly warm with anyone. He's not good at keeping up friendships anyway, He's decided a long time ago that the less close anyone gets to him, the better. **  
**

He doesn't need anyone.

But more importantly: He doesn't _want_ anyone.

It's better if they stay away.

After a while, Captain Fowler just lets him be.

He doesn't like him. It's not just because he's an android, even though Gavin has never particularly liked the plastic bastards. They're too cold, too rational, too fucking perfect to make him feel anything but uncomfortable.

Connor, however... Connor feels _dangerous_ to him. Sure, he has the whole brown puppy eyes thing going on and he looks harmless enough, but as he watches him enter the interrogation room and move towards the deviant, he feels his skin crawl, every instinct telling him that the little fucker isn't nearly as harmless as he looks. It pisses him off. It only gets worse when he starts interrogating the deviant. It's impressive, in a way, but watching him switch personalities and tone like different shirts is incredibly unsettling as well. It doesn't help that every simulated mood looks real. But it's fake, it's all fake, Gavin _knows_ it's fake. And it pisses him off even more when Connor actually succeeds in his interrogation. This fucking machine, doing whatever it takes without a second thought to get results.

When Connor tries to stop Chris from moving the deviant by force, Gavin lets his anger take over and points his gun at him. Concern for the deviant? Yeah right, _as if_. And that uncomfortable feeling is still crawling under his skin and he just wants the android to shut the fuck up and get out of his face.

"That's enough.", Hank says from the other side of the room. Stupid fucking old man.

"Mind your own business, Hank.", Gavin growls, keeping his eyes and gun on Connor. The android's eyes show no sign of fear for his own safety, calmly looking back at Gavin and his blood is boiling, even as evrything in him still screams _Danger_! His hand holding the gun is shaking slightly, he's gripping it so hard.

"I said: that's enough.", Hank says and the sound of another gun being pulled from its holster has Gavin slide his eyes over to the lieutenant and yup, he's pointing his gun at Gavin now. Oh, that's just _great_.

"Fuck!'" he curses - but through his clenched teeth it comes out more as "Phck" - and lowers his gun and stomps out of the room. The uneasy feeling follows him all the way home.

"Hey, bring me a coffee, dipshit!" A blink and a head tilt, followed by a slightly confused look to the table, where Gavin's last cup of coffee is sitting, still half-full.

"Get a move on!", he snaps. Connor frowns for a moment, but then he actually turns around and makes his way over to the coffee machine. What a fucking tool.

 When the android comes back with the new cup of coffee, there's an expectant, almost hopeful expression on his face. Shit, does the tin can actually want to fucking try and be friends with him? What a joke.

He pushes the hand holding the coffee out to him aside and snarls, "Do yourself a favor, stay outta my way."

Then he walks out of the break room and back to his desk. He doesn't need a friend and especially not one made of plastic and fake emotions. **  
**

The man on the bed in the room at the Eden Club is lying on his back, eyes open, but sightless, blanket thankfully covering his private parts. There's a broken Traci model lying a few steps away from him and Gavin sees marks around the man's neck. From the first impression, it seems he either couldn't handle what he asked for and the Traci broke when he pushed her away as his heart gave up or he beat up the Tracy and got killed by it before it died. Either way, he doesn't feel particularly sorry for the guy, he saw the wallet with the family picture in it. 

The door to the room opens.

"Lieutenant Anderson and his plastic pet... The fuck are you two doin' here?"

"We've been assigned all cases involving deviants.", Connor says, eyes already wandering around the room, no doubt scanning for evidence.

"Oh yeah? Well, you're wasting your time. Just some pervert who, uh, got more action than he could handle...", Gavin chuckles to himself.

"We'll have a look anyway, if you don't mind...", Hank says. Huh, someone looks like they've been having a rough night. Well, if they're investigating this shit, it at least means Gavin won't have to call the guy's family. He shrugs and turns to Chris.

"Come on, let's go," he starts walking towards the door, but stops just next to Hank, "It's uh.... starting to stink of booze in here..." It's a low blow, he knows it is, but he's still pissed at Hank for pulling a fucking gun on him in the interrogation room.

He deliberately shoves Connor's shoulder on his way out for good measure.

When Hank and Connor leave Fowler's office, Gavin watches them from the break room. Something must've happened, because they both look frustrated. Slowly sipping his coffe, Gavin continues to watch as Connor sits on the desk next to Hank. He can't hear what they're saying, but Connor suddenly looks down and to the side and Hank almost looks...kind of proud?

Then their attention is suddenly drawn elsewhere and when Gavin follows their line of sight he sees the agent from the FBI - Pearking or Peakins or whatever the hell his name was - enter the station. Putting one and one together, he realizes that Hank and Connor must've been taken off the case. Huh. Whether he likes them or not, he had thought they were making pretty good progress in their investigation.

A sudden movement draws his eyes back to Hank's desk, where Connor has suddenly gotten up and is talking quickly and insistently to the lieutenant. Then Hank gets up and answers something in a quiet voice, gesturing in the direction of his desk, before making his way to the FBI agent - "Perkins!", oh that's right, his name was _Perkins_ , "You fucking cocksucker!" _-_ and punching him squarely in the nose.

...that, Gavin didn't expect. He quickly looks back to the desk, but Connor isn't there anymore. He scans the room with his eyes and just catches the arm of a CyberLife uniform disappearing behind the door leading to the evidence room. Disposing his coffee cup into the bin, Gavin follows him. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Perkins holding his nose and he has to bite back a grin. An old drunk he may be, but Hank apparently still packs a mean right hook. And honestly, Gavin doesn't like those fuckers from the FBI, they usually think they're so much better than anyone else anyway, so.... serves the little fucker right.

He opens the door to the archive room and yup, there's Connor, one hand on the door leading to the basement.

"Hey, Connor! I'm talking to you, asshole!"

The android lowers his hand from where he'd been about to open the door and turns to look at Gavin. This time, his brown eyes don't look hopeful, or friendly. Instead, Connor seems to be trying to keep a blank expression.

"Where you going? We don't need any plastic pricks around here, or didn't anybody tell you?", he sneers, trying to provoke a reaction, _any_ reaction out of the android. 

Connor, however, calmly turns around, his face still carefully blank. "I've been ordered to return to CyberLife. I'm going to register the evidence in my possession and then I'm going to leave immediately."

So, Gavin was right. They've been taken off the case. He thinks back to what he just observed. There's no way Hank decided to punch Perkins just because he felt like it. If it was a diversion so Connor could get into the evidence room unnoticed though... Connor glances back towards the door. Yeah, he's _definitely_ up to something. Gavin could stop him. Or rat him out to Fowler. He _could,_ but to his surprise he finds that he doesn't really want to. Something's been... different about the android lately. Gavin can't quite put his finger on what exactly it is, but it feels like something big is about to begin.

And...if he's really honest with himself (which he tries to avoid), Gavin doesn't actually dislike Connor (or Hank) as much as he pretends anymore.

Not that he'd ever let either of them know that, so instead he says, "Good. Be careful on your way back...Androids have a way of...getting themselves set on fire these days...", before he turns around and leaves. Behind him he hears the door to the evidence room open and close.

Well, whatever they're planning, he can't help but hope it goes well now. For his own sake, too.

 

 Then the android revolution happens. Markus and his group of deviants set up their barricade in front of the camps, Hank almost gets himself shot by Connor's twin and the android himself leads a fucking army of clones through Detroit. It's no surprise the military has to back down in the face of so many androids and with how supportive the opinion of the masses has been lately it doesn't take long for peaceful talks to begin to finally give androids their rights as a new species. **  
**

And Connor? He actually decides to stay at the station and apparently also moves in with Hank.

They both get an earful from Fowler though, loud enough that Gavin starts worrying about the glas walls surrounding the office. It _is_ kind of satisfying to watch as well though, even if in the end it doesn't amount to much more than a slap on the wrist. When they get out the door, neither Hank nor the android seem particularly bothered by Fowler's tirade. In fact, Gavin hasn't seen Hank in such a good mood in a long time and in the following weeks it just becomes more and more noticeable how much healthier and happier he looks now. He also starts showing up at way earlier hours than he used to, which is a good thing, because as the negotiations for equal rights for androids go on, more and more cases involving androids start to stack up on Hank's and Connor's desks.

Gavin frowns as he watches them from where he's sitting at his desk. For Hank's opinion on androids to change so much over the course of just a few weeks... it makes him wonder... **  
**

"Reed!", he suddenly hears Fowler bellow behind him, "In my office!"

Gavin sighs and quickly drowns the last of his coffee before getting up and walking up the stairs to the glas box that is Fowler's office.

"You have a new case.", Fowler says as soon as the door has closed behind him. 

"...what kind of case?", Gavin asks warily, because if it was just any normal case he wouldn't have needed to call him into his office, so it's either something big or something Gavin won't like.

"Several androids have been kidnapped. They disappear without a trace only to reappear several weeks later, dead, with wounds all over their bodies. I want you to find out who's doing this and why and put a stop to it as quickly as possible."

...or maybe it's both.

Even though he suspects he already knows the answer, Gavin asks angrily, "Why can't Hank and his fucking android puppy take care of those?"

That earns him a glare. " _Connor_ and Hank are working as much and as fast as they can, but since the end of Markus' peaceful revolution, we've had so many new cases involving androids coming in every goddamn _day_ that even they can't handle them all. You on the other hand just finished your last case, so I am assigning you this one _and_ since it's looking to be a bigger investigation this time..."

 _Oh no_. He knows that tone. _Please_ _no_.

"...I'm assigning you a partner."

 _Fuck_. He grits his teeth.

"With all due respect, Captain, but I don't need-"

"Can it, Reed, I know you're all about the lone wolf thing, but not this fucking time, so don't you even fucking start with me, you're getting a partner and you're going to solve this case with him, end of discussion!"

They glare at each other for a moment, Gavin's jaw working, wracking his brain for a reason, _any_ reason good enough to convince Fowler to let him work alone. 

"Him? So you've already decided who it's gonna be?", he asks, trying to play for time. There has to be somethi- 

"Hello, Detective Reed.", a voice behind him suddenly says. A voice that sounds eerily familiar, but just slightly off. Gavin almost flinches, he hadn't heard anyone enter. He turns around slowly, dread building in his stomach. "My name is Nathaniel. I'm your new partner."

"Oh, **_fuck_ ** no!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaay, first chapter is up :)  
> Sorry, there's not a lot of story in this one yet, I originally intended to keep this shorter, but ended up fleshing the individual scenes out a lot more, not just for some backstory, but also because I like to think Gavin isn't quite as dumb or blind as the game wants us to believe, and the even if he's a smol ball of anger and sleep-deprivation, Connor's deviancy and the android revolution affect him too :')  
> 


	2. the fury in your head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did I ask for your fucking opinion?", he snaps. He barely resists the urge to bounce his leg harder.  
> A beat passes.  
> "No, Detective, but luckily I don't require your permission to voice my opinions at all.", the android says, eyebrow raising even higher, one corner of his mouth pulling up into a lopsided smile.  
> "And may I add, you're really just proving my point by behaving like a giant manchild right now?"  
> This _fucker._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS!! ;A;  
> Thank you for all your lovely comments, I am overwhelmed by your kind words. Also, I am very glad to see that people seem to like Nathaniel's name! :) I hope I can live up to all your expectations <3

It's Connor.

Or... it's _almost_ Connor, but not quite. His eyes aren't brown, for one. They're an icy grey, studying Gavin with a cool, but also slightly curious look. His jacket is mostly white instead of grey and it says 'RK900' on it.

"I look forward to working with you, Detective."

Gavin notes that his voice is also different, it's a bit deeper and doesn't have as much of that hoarseness that Connor's has.  
The android has a hand extended towards Gavin. He doesn't take it.  **  
**

Instead, he turns around to Fowler again.

"Is this a fucking joke?", he bites out between gritted teeth.

"Do I look like I'm making a fucking joke, Reed?", Fowler snaps.

"Well, you can't be serious with this, Captain!"

"The RK900... _Nathaniel_ here is an advanced version of Connor's model." Well, that at least explains the uncanny resemblance. "He's faster, stronger, more resilient and equipped with the newest technology. And I don't fucking care if you like this or not, Reed, but he's gonna act as your partner for this case. That's my last word, so get out and get to work!"

Gavin stares at Fowler for another moment, before he whirls around and storms out the glass door, right past the android, who's been watching his outburst without saying a word. As he stomps over to his desk, Gavin glances over at Hank and Connor. Both of them are _far_ too absorbed into their files for them to not have been secretly watching until a moment ago.

He can see Hank's shoulders shake with suppressed laughter.

"Fuck!", he curses and throws himself into his chair, crosses his arms and starts bouncing his leg up and down. This sucks, all of it sucks. A case involving kidnapped androids and not only does he get assigned a partner, nooo it just had to be a fucking _android_ on top of it all. It's not even 10am and Gavin already hates this entire day.

"Detective Reed?" This time he flinches. Jesus _fucking_ Christ that's the second time the plastic bastard's snuck up on him. Did they upgrade his fucking shoes to be silent as well or what? Reluctantly, he looks up at the android.

"What do you want, asshole?"

The android raises one eyebrow. "I've been assigned this case as your partner. I'd like to go over the file with you."

"I don't need your help."

"I can assure you that it would be-"

"How about you shut the fuck up? Go get me a coffee, if you wanna make yourself useful!"

The android frowns as his eyes wander slowly over Gavin's face. No wait, that's the same look Connor gets when he's investigating a crime scene. _Analyzing_ , Gavin realizes, the fucking tin can is fucking _analyzing_ him.

"You really shouldn't drink this much coffee, Detective, it'd be much better for your heart rate and", he nods down to Gavin's leg, "prevent nervous habits like that."

"Nervous ha- Did I ask for your fucking opinion?", he snaps. He barely resists the urge to bounce his leg harder.

A beat passes.

"No, Detective, but luckily I don't require your permission to voice my opinions at all.", the android says, eyebrow raising even higher, one corner of his mouth pulling up into a lopsided smile.

"And may I add, you're really just proving my point by behaving like a giant manchild right now?"

This _fucker_. **  
**

They stare at each other for a moment. Gavin goes through every reason he can think of why it would be a bad idea to punch this the fucking prick in the nose. Then the android suddenly raises his head and stares off into the middle distance, LED turning yellow. After a few seconds he glances down at Gavin again and just for a moment the detective thinks he sees something flash in the androids eyes, something like glee, but it's gone before he can be sure he didn't just imagine it. The LED turns back to blue.

Before Gavin can ask what the fuck _that_ was about, the android sighs and says "Fine then, if it's going to get you to start working, I'll get you a coffee." and turns into the direction of the break room. Huh. Talk about a weird kind of déjà-vu. Gavin glances over at Connor, because that just now looked suspiciously like android communication to him, but the RK800 is in the middle of a conversation with Hank.

He gives it a mental shrug and opens the case files on his computer. "Geez.", he mutters. There's a _lot_ of files. 'Several androids' Fowler had said, but a more accurate choice of words would have been a _fuckton_ of androids. Granted, not all of them necessarily have to be connected just because they involve kidnapped androids, but it's still a pretty big amount.

Gavin flips through a few of the files. From the first few he sees, there don't seem to be any commonalities as far as models and functions of the androids go. The locations they were last seen before they disappeared also don't seem to be linked by anthing. He's about to take a look at the pictures of the bodies they found, when a cup of coffee is set down next to his elbow none too gently.

He picks it up and eyes it warily. At first glance it looks completely normal and doesn't smell any different from usual. He takes a cautious sip.

It's perfect.

Black with just a hint of sugar. Huh. He glances up at the android, who's taken a seat at the desk opposite him and has two skinless fingers pressed to his terminal. Various files flicker over the screen in front of him at rapid speed.

"So, uh... Nate."

"...it's Nathaniel actually."

"Well, that's the longest fucking name ever, I'm growing older every time I have to say it, so I'm shortening it."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Yeah, guess what, _Nate_ , I don't give a shit. What you got on the case? "

The android clenches his jaw for a moment and frowns. Then he sighs and rolls his eyes, shaking his head slightly and turns back to his terminal.

"The androids in question have all gone missing in different locations. They're different models with different capacities, different looks and so on, so it's likely the only reason the culprit or culprits are after them is precisely _because_ they're androids."

It wasn't just the first few files Gavin looked through that had no obvious connection then.

 "While some are still missing as we speak, most of them have been found in different locations all around the city, all of them dead. The bodies and biocomponents were mostly unharmed, but almost completely devoid of Thirium, which has been determined as the cause of death in all cases." Huh. So that's what links them together. **  
**

"What the fuck is this, some kind of android-hunting vampire?", Gavin grumbles, opening the photos of the bodies.

In past cases involving dead androids, their bodies were usually mangled or heavily damaged, but it's just as Nathaniel said. The only visual wounds are small incisions every here and there on the androids' bodies. Gavin frowns. Androids don't feel pain, so killing them slowly like this doesn't make sense at all.

Unless... Unless killing them wasn't the main objective.

"It's almost...", Nathaniel says slowly, "...as if they were bled. The way you'd bleed, say, cattle..."

Gavin nods absently and quickly clicks on one set of pictures again. There. It's hard to tell from just the picture, but it looks like there's an incision right on the android's neck. He scrolls down to get a look at the feet, but the only pictures including them are from an angle that isn't showing him the androids' ankles properly.

"What the fuck?", he says, "Why didn't they include proper pictures of their feet?"

"Perhaps they thought it wasn't important", Nathaniel muses, "Anyway, I believe it'd be best for us to go down to the morgue and just check for ourselves.", and oh that's right, androids are considered people now, so instead of storing their bodies in the evidence room, they now have to go all the way down to the morgue. Gavin sighs. New world, new fucking rules. Of course.

"Yeah, no shit, Captain Obvious." He gets up.

He finishes his coffee and throws the cup into the trash.

"Well, at least CyberLife programmed you to make some halfway decent coffee, so even if the rest is shit, at least you have that going for you."

The android smiles back at him.

Like a shark.

"...what?", Gavin asks, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Nathaniel gets up from his chair, moving towards Gavin. God _damn_ , but that thing is tall. For a moment, Gavin fears he's provoked the android too far, but then he just moves past him.

"It was decaffeinated.", he says, just as he passes him, before walking towards the entrance of the station.

Gavin stares at the back of the android's head, mouth agape. In his peripheral vision, he can see Connor doubling over onto his desk and Hank throwing his head back, howling with laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hank: this is so sad, Connor play The Cell Block Tango from Chicago


	3. the evening chill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Imagine undergoing a surgery with regional anesthesia, only the surgeon is purposely trying to kill you and you have to watch your organs shutting down one by one. Having to watch one biocomponent fail after another without being able to stop it is kind of like that."
> 
> Gavin gulps involuntarily. He lets his eyes wander around the lab again. This isn't even half the bodies belonging to this case. "What a shit way to die.", he mutters to himself, looking down at the dead android in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH AGAIN FOR YOUR LOVELY COMMENTS!!  
> Each one put a huge smile on my face :D  
> QuanticDream: hey, so we're gonna be vague as fuck with the whole android biocomponents/skin/anatomy stuff  
> me: cool, Imma go wild then  
> 

The morgue is just a short walk from the station, but to Gavin, it feels like an eternity. At least it gives him time for his coffee. The _actual_ coffee, full caffeine included, that he's gotten himself before following Nathaniel. It had taken all of his will power to resist the urge to throw the hot beverage at either Hank and Connor or the fucking dickhead that's standing next to him in the elevator leading down to the basement.

How the bastard manages to keep a perfectly neutral expression and _still_ look smug is beyond Gavin.

He crushes the empty cup in his fist.

When the elevator reaches their destination, Gavin immediately stomps out the door, throwing the cup into a waste bin nearby, the android following closely behind.

"Mornin', Gavin" the coroner, a short woman by the name of Julia, greets them,"and you must be Nathaniel?" The android nods, taking her extended hand with a smile.

"He's a fucking nuisance is what he is.", Gavin grumbles. They start walking down the corridor to the lab. Their footsteps echo off the walls. "We're here for the bodies of the kidnapped and killed androids."

"Yeah, I've already laid out several of the bodies."

"You knew we were coming?", Gavin asks, surprised.

"Yeah, your android here called ahead and let me know."

"He's not _my_ fucking android", Gavin snaps immediately.

"You're _welcome_ ", Nathaniel chimes in, turning to Gavin, mouth pulled into a lopsided grin again.

"Fuck you", Gavin hisses. Nathaniel's grin widens. Gavin wants to strangle him.

Julia glances at Nathaniel before looking back at Gavin. It looks like she's trying to bite back a laugh. He rolls his eyes at her and frowns. He really, _really_ hates this day. **  
**

They reach the lab. It's a big room with sterile walls and counters. About twenty androids have been laid out on the examination tables, cold light from the ceiling lamps giving the bodies an eerie glow.

"Knock yourselves out,", Julia says, "call me if you need anything." She nods to each of them, before she leaves them alone in the lab, closing the door behind her. **  
**

Gavin walks over to the closest body, a ST300. Nathaniel is already standing next to it. Its eyes are open, staring at the ceiling without seeing. Nathaniel gently closes them, before bending over it, carefully examining the android's throat, where, just as Gavin suspected, there's a cut right across the lower neck.

"This one is deeper than the others.", Nathaniel informs him, voice quiet and matter-of-factly, "The bigger tubes coming directly from the Thirium pump have been severed, which caused the Thirium to get pumped out of the body rather quickly before both the pump and regulator shut down eventually. There's traces of it all over the wound and neck."

Gavin frowns. "No holes or even scratches from hooks or wires on the feet though.", he says, "Hey, Nate, can you check for signs of rope or some shit?"

The android gives him an utterly umimpressed look at the name, but walks over to him, his eyes focusing intently on the feet, analyzing.

"No traces of rope and no traces of Thirium either."

"Hmm... bleeding them without hanging them wouldn't really have worked, would it? Maybe we've got the wrong idea after all..."

"Not necessarily", Nathaniel interjects.

"Oh yeah? Then how do you think they fucking did it?", Gavin challenges, crossing his arms. Nathaniel takes one of the android's feet into his hand and starts gently pressing and prodding around the ankle 'bone'.

"There's a component in androids' feet that's not part of the ankle mechanism. It holds some of the particles needed for skin-generation and can be removed without completely detaching the foot or damaging any Thirium tubes."

He presses his thumb into a spot near the android's heel. Gavin hears a faint clicking sound. When Nathaniel turns back to him, he's holding a small cylindric object and the ankle now has a hole all the way through. **  
**

"Alright, fine, fucking fantastic", Gavin says, trying not to sound impressed. "Any signs of wires or hooks in there then?"

Nathaniel bends down to the foot and there's that same analyzing look again. After a moment he looks back at Gavin. "There's faint scratch marks on the inside, probably from some kind of hook, since there's none on the outside."

 _Bingo_.

"Let's check the rest of them.", Gavin says. Nathaniel nods, already moving towards another body.

They find the same kind of throat-injuries and scratches on all of the android bodies.

"They were hung upside down by their feet, then cut in various places and slowly bleeding out before being cut across the throat, which ultimately led to a critical Thirium loss", Nathaniel summarizes, once they're finished. "But we still don't know why they bled them in the first place or where."

Gavin frowns. "Red ice production? There's a shit ton of dealer rings around the city after all."

"But why would they need so much so quickly? While it evaporates rather quickly and thus needs to be processed quickly if it comes into contact with air, Thirium makes up the smallest component of red ice, so even if they're mass-producing it, it's unlikely they'd need such an enormous amount."

"Fuck if I know", Gavin answers, "Maybe they're stocking up for 'bad times'?" He can't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice. Fucking red ice. There's something else tugging at his mind however. "But while we're at it, what I wanna know is why the fuck are they collecting blue blood this way? If they want it so bad, why go through the trouble of taking it from living androids instead of stealing a few bags from CyberLife's fucking warehouses or something? With how busy they are with trying to save their asses in the negotiations, I bet they wouldn't even notice if a few trucks went missing now." **  
**

"Maybe it's a hate crime instead then. Or both. Killing them slowly to torture them, before they cut them open properly to get the blood, which they possibly use for red ice production." **  
**

"Torturing them by inflicting wounds all over? I thought you fucking tin cans didn't feel pain?"

"We don't," Nathaniel agrees, apparently choosing to just ignore Gavin's insult this time, "but hanging upside down for a long time isn't exactly comfortable for us either, for one. Plus, we may not feel pain the way humans do, but we _are_ capable of feeling fear. Or panic. Additionally, judging from how faint the scratches we found were, none of these androids put up much of a struggle, so chances are they've been... restraint with some kind of program or virus and weren't able to move much."

He pauses for a moment.

"Imagine undergoing a surgery with regional anesthesia, only the surgeon is purposely trying to kill you and you have to watch your organs shutting down one by one. Having to watch one biocomponent fail after another without being able to stop it is kind of like that."

Gavin gulps involuntarily. He lets his eyes wander around the lab again. This isn't even half the bodies belonging to this case. "What a shit way to die.", he mutters to himself, looking down at the dead android in front of him.

"What was that, Detective?"

"I didn't say a fucking thing. Get your audio shit checked if you're starting to hear voices. Anyway, let's tell Julia we're finished here. We've got a shit tone of work to do back at the station."

When they ride the elevator back up, he can feel the android's eyes on him the entire time. He turns his face away to hide his expression. **  
**

~~  
~~

Back at the station they dive right into research.

Their visit to the morgue has gotten them a good understanding of how the androids were killed, but just as Nathaniel had said, they still have no idea where they are being held, what the blood is really taken for or who's behind it all.

Even if they're not entirely sure if it's the reason, Gavin still figures red ice is as good a place to start as any, so he's pulled up a map of the city where he's jotting down all the places where androids have gone missing, marking warehouses and abandoned butcheries around the areas and then cross-referencing those with zones of concentrated red ice trafficking. Nathaniel is doing the same with the locations where the dead androids have been found, while simultaneously going through all the security and traffic camera footage for both the areas his and Gavin's maps he can find.

Gavin won't say it out loud, but having the android be able to do two things at once is fucking convenient.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices movement. Connor and Hank have gathered their things from their desks and are pulling on their jackets. Gavin glances at the clock on his computer. Fuck, is it really already evening?

Connor looks over to them. His and Nathaniel's LEDs go yellow for a moment, the RK900 turning in his seat to give a little wave and a small smile. As he watches them leave the station, he almost looks a little wistful to Gavin.

When the android turns back, Gavin quickly averts his eyes.  **  
**

"Alright, Nate", he hears the android heave a sigh, "what we got so far?"

"We have a total of 58 possible locations at the moment, with about 32 of them closest to zones where red ice trafficking is most concentrated. There's 21 that are in remote or mostly abandoned areas and 17 of those that overlap with the 32 I mentioned before. I'm still checking whatever camera footage I can find in case there's anything in there that'll help us narrow it down further."

Gavin nods tiredly and rubs his eyes. It's a start. He hopes they won't have to check all 58 locations though. Nathaniel glances over at him, before checking the clock on his own screen.

"We should probably call it a day now as well."

"Yeah no shit, I'm fucking beat. I'm heading home now.", Gavin says as he gets up and pulls on his jacket.

"I'll see you tomorrow then.", Nathaniel says, making no move to get out of his seat as well.

Gavin hesitates for a moment, a thought crossing his mind. Where do androids go at night, now that they're people instead of tools you can just 'temporarily park' somewhere? Connor lives with Hank now, so obviously that's where he spends his nights, but...

"Is there anything else, Detective?" And there's that damned eyebrow again.

"No", he says quickly, "nothing."

Is it just his imagination, or does the android look... just a tad disappointed?

"Have a good night then."

"Right", he mumbles, shifting umcomfortably, avoiding eye contact with the android, "Right, I'm off."

He quickly turns around and leaves the station without looking back.

~~~~

When Gavin gets to his house, the sky is already turning dark. It's small, just one floor and the attic he uses as his bedroom. It's a bit removed from the city, so it always takes him a while to go back and forth between here and work. But it's quiet, peaceful. He likes it here.

Before he opens his door, he turns around and lets out a sharp whistle between his teeth. Nothing. Huh. _Not around right now then_.

Once inside, he throws his keys onto the shelf in the hallway before making his way to the kitchen. There's still some leftover shepherd's pie in the fridge, so he shovels it all onto a plate and puts it into the microwave. While he waits, he grabs a beer, an empty bowl and one of the boxes on top of the fridge.

 _Ding_.

Food, beer and the rest all balanced in one arm, Gavin makes his way up the steep stairway to the attic. A quick look over to his bed tells him that no, she didn't sneak in to sleep in here either, so he continues his way over to one of the skylights. Setting his array of things down onto his dresser for a moment, he turns on the stereo, the sounds of a soft electric guitar starting to fill the quiet.

Then he opens the window and grabs the small stepladder that's leaning on the wall. He gathers everything up again and slowly and carefully makes his way onto the roof and the little platform he built there for precisely this reason.

Setting his food, the bowl and the box down first, he hoists himself up onto the wooden planks and sits down cross-legged. The first stars are already visible, the sun's last rays barely climbing over the horizon now.

This is why he doesn't mind driving almost an hour to and from work every day. He wouldn't trade this view for anything.

Gavin has loved looking up at the night sky for as long as he can remember. It's probably the reason he inherited this house from his Grandaunt in the first place. Granted, it's not far enough to completely evade light pollution, but it's still way better than anywhere in the city would be, in his opinion.

As he eats and looks out over the fields and watches the light fade, he thinks back to the case.

Kidnapped and killed - no, _butchered -_ androids, dozens of them, and right in the middle of the city that was the center of the android revolution. **  
**

An image flashes unbidden before Gavin's eyes: androids strung up upside down in a row, blue blood flowing from several parts of their bodies, LEDs flashing red before slowly dying one by one. He pulls his hoodie a little tighter around himself, sets his plate down and grabs the bottle of beer. **  
**

He thinks back to the morgue and the way Nathaniel had closed the android's eyes before examining her. 

' _We are capable of feeling_ _fear_. _'_

Gavin frowns. He wonders what Nathaniel would be afraid of.

Honestly, back when the android revolution started, Gavin hadn't really put much stock into the whole 'androids have emotions and free will' thing.

But then he'd watched Markus and his group of deviants marching on the camps, refusing to resort to violence even as the soldiers shot into the crowd and he couldn't help but admire their courage, as well as their determination. If it was him, he'd probably have punched someone within the first week of the revolution. He's never been good at containing his anger.

And yet, he'd found Markus kind of had a point.

' _An eye for an eye and the world goes blind_ .' What a weird world, where the machines make more sense than the humans. **  
**

His thoughts get interrupted by a quiet "mrrrrrrwww" on his left. Gavin huffs, sets his bottle down and picks up the empty bowl as well as the box.

"Figured you'd be hungry by now.", he murmurs, as a small and fuzzy figure jumps onto the roof from one of the trees next to the house and, upon hearing the contents of the box hitting the porcelain, quickly makes its way over to where Gavin is sitting.

Green eyes, black and brown fur, a long tail, whiskers and a tear in one of two pointy ears.

She's a tiny, skinny thing, has barely grown even after Gavin started feeding her. She's not _his_ cat, not really, he hasn't even named her. She comes and goes randomly and she never stays too long, even if she sometimes does sneak into the house to sleep somewhere (and he still hasn't found out how she gets in). She's probably been a stray for too long to settle down, Gavin guesses, but wherever she goes during the day, she turns up like clockwork every evening like this, hungry and looking for affection.

"'least you're still the same as ever. Some fucked up day this has been..."

She purrs when he scratches gently under her chin for a moment, before turning away from him to devour her food. Gavin lies back on the wooden planks, crossing his arms behind his head, one leg dangling off the edge.

"Fowler assigned me a partner again. After all this time. And a fucking android on top of that. Real fucking annyoing that one..." He sighs. "...even if he's kinda useful. But honestly, this case is giving me a headache with how fucked up it is. Guess it was to be expected there'd be a rise in anti-android crimes, huh? Hope we can make some fucking progress tomorrow, I just wanna get this shit over with." **  
**

The cat finishes her meal and blinks slowly at him for a moment, before climbing onto his chest and curling up in a tiny little purring furball. Gavin absently rubs her head.

His thoughts wander back to the police station. Back to a lone figure sitting at a desk off to the side. 

He stares up at the night sky for a long time. **  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you just keep telling yourself you don't like him, Gavin...  
>   
> me: so, can I put Gavin's house somewhere in the hills?  
> google: "the land around Detroit is nearly flat."  
> me: the.... hills....?  
> google: nope.  
> me: ugh fine, but I WILL live vicariously through Gavin bay giving him a cat and a spot to stargaze on the roof  
>   
> also quick note, next chapter will probably take a while longer, as I'm also supposed to be writing my master thesis rn and I really need to get back to that until at least the weekend ^^"


	4. the colorless sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nathaniel looks over at him, eyebrow raised.  
> "I'm sure if you keep cursing and glaring at them they'll eventually die from indignation.", he says, mouth twitching.  
> "Fucking hilarious", Gavin hisses.  
> "Watching you definitely is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone!! Thank you again for your lovely comments on the last chapter. I wanted to get this one out earlier, but there were some parts in the second half I just wasn't happy with and I had to rewrite them a few times :)  
>   
> In this chapter, I further bullshit my way through how Thirium and blue blood work (mostly inspired by how Connor can somehow tell androids apart from their blood alone). I apologize to anyone who has more knowledge of chemistry than I do in advance. I tried.

Despite staying up pretty late, Gavin gets to the station rather early the next day. There's barely anyone there yet, but when he gets to his desk, he sees Nathaniel already sitting there.

"The fuck are you doin' here already?", he asks, setting his coffee cup down and dropping down into his chair.

"And a good morning to you too, Detective. Actually, I'm _still_ here.", Nathaniel replies smoothly.

"So what, you really just stayed here all night?"

"Yes."

The fuck.

"...well, did you at least find something then?"

"Yes. I found footage of the same black van around three of our most likely locations. It belongs to a man named Darius Slater." He pulls up a profile on both his and Gavin's screen, "He's known to lead protests against androids and he's registered in our suspect database for red ice possession. While there's no footage of what's inside the car, one of the recordings close to where several bodies were found partly shows the driver through the window. Unfortunately, the angle didn't show his face properly, so it might or might not be Slater himself. I did, however, notice a faint splatter of blue blood on his fingers that hadn't fully evaporated yet."

A _faint_ splatter?

"Jesus Christ, no fucking wonder that took all night", Gavin mutters under his breath.

"I finished going through the footage around 10.", Nathaniel says, abit smugly. That was about an hour and a half after Gavin left. Fucking machine.

"The fuck did you stay at the station for then?", Gavin asks, incredulous. Even if the android really had nowhere to go, he would have expected him to... hell, take a walk or something.

"I've been reading through some older case files, most of them centered around red ice. I figured it might be useful for our investigation. Personally, I found Lieutenant Anderson's work on the Red Ice Task Force particularly interesting."

Gavin rolls his eyes. "You and every other newbie walking in here.", he mutters.

"Well, maybe you should take a page from the lieutenant's book when it comes to your general behavior, and maybe they'll talk about your old cases instead."

"Well, maybe you should shut the fuck up, how about that?", Gavin hisses.

The android smiles pleasantly at him. "Never."

Gavin rolls his eyes so hard it almost hurts and gets up.

"What-the-fuck-ever, tin can, let's just fucking go."

 

When they pull up to the old warehouse, Gavin is in a bad mood. Well, worse mood.

It's the third and last of their locations and Gavin really hopes they'll find something this time, because the last two places had only turned up rats and a few faint old traces of Thirium in one of them. So they probably _were_ used, but have been abandoned already. Gavin called it in anyway, telling the forensics team to take a closer look around while he and Nathaniel check out the other locations, since their top priority right now is finding the missing androids. He also told them to have some teams in the area on alert for backup, just in case. **  
**

Gavin parks the car a good distance away from the warehouse and they get out. The warehouse is surrounded by burnt and collapsed factory buildings, most of them overgrown with grass, moss and even a few flowers here and there. A cobblestone path leads from the street to the building. It looks slightly less unkempt than the rest of the area. They make their way across the compound, taking a detour away from the path in case the building is guarded.

Gavin glances at Nathaniel from the corner of his eye. **  
**

The android had taken off his jacket at the first location already, leaving him with the black shirt he wears underneath. Gavin has to admit, it's less conspicuous. Whose idea was it anyway, to give an android made for investigation a mostly white jacket? At least Connor's was grey, even if it still had the bright blue armband.

"Stupid plants", Gavin grouses under his breath as his foot gets caught on something hidden in the grass and he just barely manages not to faceplant into the ground. "Stupid, fucking, annoying, goddamn- " **  
**

Nathaniel looks over at him, eyebrow raised.

"I'm sure if you keep cursing and glaring at them they'll eventually die from sheer indignation.", he says, mouth twitching.

"Fucking hilarious", Gavin hisses.

"Watching you definitely is."

Gavin just rolls his eyes and continues angrily making his way through the grass.

They make their way to the building without incident. The warehouse itself seems to be in surprisingly stable condition. From what Gavin can see, the roof appears to be intact and there are no broken windows. He squints. No, that's not right, there are a few _new_ windows among them. Well, that's suspicious. **  
**

"There's something in there", Nathaniel says, all mirth gone from his voice. The android is staring intently at the warehouse door. "Do you hear that?" There's a faint hum sounding from inside the warehouse. **  
**

"Yeah, and the fuckin' van is here too.", Gavin nods over to where the car is parked around the corner and pulls his gun from its holster.

Slowly, and as quietly as possible, they open the door of the warehouse. Not even locked or anything. Shit, these fuckers must feel really secure then. That can either mean they're fucking amateurs _or_ they're really dangerous. Great.

Upon entering, Gavin gets a sudden flashback to his thoughts from the night before, only it's even worse to actually see it.

They've found them.

There's androids hanging upside down from steel structures on the ceiling, hooks pushed through the exact openings Nathaniel showed him in the examination room at the morgue. Below each of them is a kind of tank, collecting the blue blood slowly dripping down their bodies and apparently pumping it over to a bigger container. From there, it's channeled into plastic bags, the kind CyberLife sells.

It's so the blood doesn't come in contact with air too much, Gavin realizes.

Most of the androids seem to be still alive, but in the back rows he sees some with cuts across their throats, collecting vessels empty and no blood dripping down anymore.

Gavin pushes the uneasy feeling in his stomach down.

They have a job to do.

He turns towards Nathaniel and taps his temple with one finger. Nathaniel nods, LED turning yellow, calling in and (hopefully) requesting backup. Without making any sound, because apparently he's able to make a phone call without even having to whisper.

Gavin wonders if they hear his actual voice on the other end or just some kind of robotic text-reading.

He looks around the room again and takes a closer look at the androids' faces. Their eyes are open, but they show no reaction to their arrival, instead staring into nothing.

Gavin turns back to Nathaniel to ask him what the fuck is going on, but the android is already moving, slowly and carefully, towards the nearest android, arm raised and skin deactivating.

Fascinating as the sight is, Gavin tears his eyes away and scans the room again. With the van parked outside, it's unlikely they're the only ones here.

After a few seconds, Nathaniel murmurs, "It seems to be some kind of virus accessing all of their major control functions, like sight and hearing as well as, of course, moving in general. I'm not sure how aware they are of their surroundings.", his tone turns frustrated, "However, right now, I can't dig deeper into the program without risking to be infected myself."

Gavin frowns. He opens his mouth to ask if Nathaniel can tell whether their scanners and diagnostics still work, when a clinking sound echoes throughout the room from an open door on the other side.

Their eyes meet. Without a word, they start moving again, slowly and quietly making their way over to the door.

Gavin carefully peeks around the door frame. There's tables and storage boxes and several bags of blue blood lying on them.

At the end of the room, there's a man bent over one of the tables, long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. From what Gavin can see, there's several conical flasks, glass tubes and other chemical equipment he's tinkering with.

They split up, Nathaniel moving along one side of the room and Gavin taking the other.

Gavin squints as he looks at one of the boxes to his left. No, it's not just the blue blood bags they saw in the other room. There's also little foil packages of something that kind of looks like red ice, but the crystals are bigger, and colored a dark blue, bordering on black. They'll have to take a closer look at these later.

They make their way through the room without problems, until suddenly, the suspect whips around. It's the guy from the profile Nathaniel pulled up earlier, Darius Slater. Behind him, Gavin catches the bright reflection of the doorframe they entered through. A mirror. _Shit_.

Gavin has a moment to notice that Slater's wearing an apron stained with blue blood and has a scarf pulled up over his mouth before their suspect pulls a gun from his pocket and starts firing at them. Gavin curses and ducks down behind one of the tables. He looks over at Nathaniel, only to find that the android is not where he last saw him anymore.

Instead, he's charging in on Slater. And there's that feeling again, the one that had every cell of his being screaming at him to run in the interrogation room back in November, only this time it's sending a thrill through him. He can't help it, there's something satisfying about watching Nathaniel pretty much _parkour_ over tables and equipment in the room, evading every bullet on the way and steadily gaining on the suspect.

Like hell he's gonna let the android take all the credit though, so he ducks behind a counter and quickly runs over to the backdoor, cutting off any chance of escape. Slater's eyes go wide in panic and he raises his gun at Gavin, but before he can shoot or try to threaten him or whatever other stupid thing he was planning to do, Nathaniel grabs his arm from behind, twisting it away from Gavin and behind his back, forcing him to let go of the gun and swiping his legs out from under him while he's at it. He releases the arm with a push and the guy falls flat on his face, unable to catch himself with his other hand in time.

Gavin rushes over, pressing down on Slater's arm and back with his knee and pinning his other arm down with his hand while Nathaniel kicks away the gun.

He turns back to the android, fully expecting him to wear some kind of smug or proud expression, but Nathaniel is looking back towards the door to the other room, a quiet fury turning his eyes to steel.

"...I'll get started on getting them down.", he says, quietly and, without waiting for an answer, moves towards the door, _accidentally_ stepping heavily on their suspect's fingertips on the way, drawing a shout from him.

"You fuckers, you can't do this! Injuring me even though I'm not resisting! I have rights you know!", Slater yells.

Gavin snorts.

"Oh yeah? Because I'm pretty fucking sure you just hurt your hand trying to escape. Oh and as for your fucking rights", he pulls a pair of handcuffs from his pocket, "yeah, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you..."

  ~~  
~~

By the time they're finished, it's already evening. They've gotten all the androids down, turning the ones that have shut down over to the coroner and the others to technicians from CyberLife. The ones with cuts on their throats that hadn't bled out yet have been provided with blue blood - refills and some kind of emergency gel-glue-thing the guys from CyberLife brought with them to close the wound before their tubes can be properly replaced.

The androids are still in the same weird stasis Gavin and Nathaniel found them in, but they'll to start breaking down and analyzing the virus back at CyberLife headquarters. Meanwhile, the forensics team is collecting the foil packs to take them back to the station for analysis.

Gavin sighs. He could really use some coffee right about now. Or a nap. Possibly both.

"They've finished tending to the last of the androids that weren't hurt too badly, so all that's left now is transporting them to CyberLife's lab so they can start on breaking down the virus", Nathaniel says, coming up behind him.

"Yeah and for us to wait until our lab finds out what the fuck this is.", Gavin holds on of the little foil packs up between his fingers. It's labeled "C3". He's seen several other labels on the other packs as well.

Nathaniel takes it out of his hand and opens it. Before Gavin can protest, the android takes one of the crystals between his fingers and then pops it into his mouth like it's candy.

Gavin stares.

"What the actual _fuck_ do you think you're doing?!", he hisses.

"It's mostly crystalized Thirium 310. A mix of PL600, ST400 and AX200 to be exact.", Nathaniel tells him, ignoring the outburst.

Analyzing.

With his _mouth_.

Of fucking course.

...and fucking weird.

Gavin shakes himself out of his stupor.

"What, so you can even tell what model the blue blood belonged to?"

"Different models' blue blood contains different concentrations of actual Thirium. We just call all of it Thirium for short, but there are different types of it. Incidentally, the RK series' blood contains a rather high dose of Thirium compared to other models."

"But CyberLife only sells one type of it.", Gavin argues.

"Yes, the composition is only changed once it enters the android's body by thinning and mixing the Thirium 310 with various other substances depending on the model." Nathaniel frowns and looks at the label on the foil package again. "If they're making this out of different types of blue blood, it'd explain why they're going after so many different models. I also detect traces of Toluene as well as other intoxicants. I suspect its reaction with the larger amounts of Thirium is what turns the color is so dark." **  
**

"'Great, so this is what, a new super drug?"

"Probably. In concentrations this high, Thirium would send a human's hormone production into rollercoaster chaos. Pair that with the effects of Toluene and... well."

Just what this fucking city needed. As if people on red ice weren't bad enough. Gavin pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Alright, interrogation's first thing tomorrow morning, right?"

"Yes", Nathaniel replies, mouth pulling up into a faint smile, "And I imagine by then Mr. Slater will be rather talkative, if the lack of a proper face mask and the residue all over his clothes is anything to go by."

Seems like their group is more on the amateur side of things then.

"Yeah, well, let's hope he'll talk about something useful and not just random crap.", Gavin mutters.

He looks up at the android.

"So, you gonna stay at the station all night long again?", he asks.

"Yes. I'll get started on a report for today and I still have some more cases I want to read."

"What, you can't just...fuck, I don't know, download them into your brain or something?", Gavin asks, slightly confused.

"Oh no, I _could_ , but it's more fun to actually read them and...", he pauses, expression turning sheepish, "it helps to pass the time."

Huh. So androids _can_ get bored too it seems.

"Yeah well, whatever floats your fucking boat. I'm...", he hesitates, _goddammit_ , _not this again_ , "I'm out of here."

"Have a good night, Detective.", Nathaniel says with a small smile.

"Yeah... yeah, you.... you too."

He walks away before Nathaniel can say anything more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JUST TAKE HIM HOME GAVIN.  
> this is also the chapter I researched more drugs and drug compositions for than I ever thought I would ~~and then decided to keep it vague anyways~~.


	5. the words you're fighting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He been like that all night?“, Gavin asks Nathaniel.  
> "Since around 3am.”  
> “Huh. Must’ve been sampling the merchandise instead of just making it if it’s this bad.”  
> “Oh no, this is actually better than he’s been all night”, Nathaniel says cheerily, “He’s been like that since 3am, before then it was way worse.”  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all again for the lovely comments, each one put a big smiles on my face!! :D  
> also sorry for the delay, I had to rewrite some parts of the second half of this that I wasn't happy with several times, so it took me a bit longer :')

Gavin watches their suspect through the glass of the interrogation room.

Slater is seated at the desk, hands already cuffed to it. He's shaking and sweat runs down from his greasy hairline. Gavin doubts it's just from nerves. His bloodshot eyes are darting around the room, moving from the mirror to the camera in the corner to the empty chair in front of him, the look in them frantic, panicked.

"Not quite so confident anymore now, is he? He been like that all night?", Gavin asks Nathaniel.

"Since around 3am."

"Huh. Must've been sampling the merchandise instead of just making it if it's this bad."

"Oh no, this is actually better than he's been all night", Nathaniel says cheerily, "He's been like _that_ since 3am, before then it was way worse."

"Jesus.", Gavin mutters, "Seems to be one hell of a new drug then. Well then, let's see if it makes him wanna talk too."

He opens the door to the corridor, Nathaniel following right behind.

"I'll let you know if he's lying.", the android says.

Gavin nods, before placing his hand on the scanner.

They enter the interrogation room and sit down in front of their suspect.

"Mornin', Darius."

"Y-You!", Slater sputters.

"Yes, us. We have some questions for you."

Slater's eyes wander from Gavin's face to the LED on Nathaniel's temple.

"I won't, I won't tell you...tell you ffffuckers sh-shit!" Slater's teeth are chattering and he seems having trouble focusing.

"Yeah well, in that case you're going to jail for manslaughter.", Gavin informs him. The suspect's eyes snap back to him.

"Manslaughter? They're, they're just ma-machines!", he exclaims.

"Not anymore. Haven't you heard? Androids are people now." Even if Gavin honestly still can't quite believe that sentence is coming out of his mouth of all people, but Slater doesn't need to know that. "And", he adds, "you've been caught red-handed - or blue-handed I suppose - in a warehouse, full of missing androids, some of them dead, all of them hurt, clearly with the intend to kill them too... Doesn't look so fucking great for you now, does it?"

"Y-you fffffuckers, you can't, can't do that, I, I was, I was just... just there for the Black Void."

" _Black_ _Void_?"

"The drug. They c-c-c-call, call it that. Big ffffucking thing it is."

"Oh yeah?"

"Y-yeah. You know, you know how Th-Th...Thirium a-a-affects hor-hormones?", Slater asks, leaning forward in his seat, voice dropping until it's barely above a whisper.

"What of it?"

"In, in, in l-l-larger quanti-quantities, it affects the, the, the neurot-t-t-ransmitters too.", god, he's like a fucking fountain of information now, "Gets you ffffffeling real good. Gets you ho-hoo-hooked real fast t-too."

Gavin exchanges a glance with Nathaniel. Well, that's not good.

"And you made that out of android blood?"

"Y-y-es!", Slater says. He almost seems excited now. What a fucking creep."The, the, the higher the Thirium in the, in the blood, the better, so....so we gave it numbers and and and and quality labels. Plus", he glares at Nathaniel, "gets rid of, of, of _them._ Hehe, woulda loved one of, of, of your model if there were more, were more around. But", suddenly he goes back to looking panicked, eyes darting back to Gavin, "I didn't... didn't k-kill them, I didn't kn-know, I didn't..."

Gavin raises an eyebrow in disbelief.

"You didn't know they were murdered? In the room right next to you? For the drugs _you_ were fucking making? You just said making the drug ' _got rid of them_ '. Fucking pull the other leg, why don't you?"

"N...nnnno", Slater stammers, "I didn't know how, how to... how to bleed them! I just, just made the drugs and and and got rid of the, the bodies!"

"Yeah, you're a fucking saint, aren't you?", Gavin mutters, rolling his eyes.

"Alright, fine, and who did the bleeding then?"

Slater goes rigid. Gavin sighs inwardly. Well, it would've been too good for the entire interrogation to go so smoothly. Even heavy drug withdrawal can't completely block out Slater's awareness of where he is and what he's telling them it seems.

"He, he, he had me switch the warehouse every few weeks." Well that explains the two empty ones they found.

"I don't know his, his, his name. He, he just, he just came and went without ever, telling, without ever telling me."

Nathaniel smiles at Slater. It's not a pleasant smile.

"You're lying."

"I'm... I'm nnot!", Slater says, convincing absolutely no one.

"Yes, you are. But it's not gonna help you. You aren't getting out of here, you know?", Nathaniel says, leaning back in his chair, "And even if you were... I don't think they'd let you live either way, so... you might as well tell us." He shrugs and spreads his hands out before him, palms up, "Maybe it'll even be remembered when your fate is decided, hm?"

"R-really?", Slater asks, staring at Nathaniel with wide eyes, apparently forgetting it's an android he's talking to.

It won't help him, put Gavin isn't about to tell Slater that the android is playing him like a fiddle. 

"Yes, Darius, just tell us and everything will be alright."

Gavin suppresses a shudder at the soothing tone Nathaniel's using. It creeps him out how sincere it sounds.

"His name is, is Nicholas Ingram. He's the one that, that, that brought and and butchered the tin cans. Has an, an, an RV down in Oakwood Heights."

Ah, the power of false hope.

"How'd he get them into that weird comatose state?", Gavin asks, leaning forward again.

"I don't, I don't know, they, they always were like that w-when he brought... when he brought them in."

Gavin glances at Nathaniel out of the corner of his eye. The android nods ever so slightly without taking his eyes of their suspect. Slater's telling the truth this time.

"Anyone else you wanna tell us about?"

"I don't kn-know any more, any more names, b-b-but I knnn..ow Ingram has a few, a few, a few men under him, they h-help him catch 'em. And, and, I know there's someone at...the top. No one... no one's ssseen them before though.", he whispers.

Of course not.

Gavin sighs and gets up.

"Alright, I think we're done here then."

"Y-you'll tell them I, I, I told you, r-right?", Slater asks, looking up at them with unfocused eyes.

" _Absolutely_ ", Nathaniel answers, not even bothering with the tone anymore, but Slater seems to drink it up anyway, nodding eagerly. Gavin almost feels sorry for him.

Almost.

He activates the scanner and they leave the room, neither of them sparing a glance back.

"Some unknown fucker at the top, huh?", Gavin mutters, walking back to their desks, "Would've been too damn convenient if he knew their name as well..."

He turns to Nathaniel.

"Alright, let's pay Mr. Ingram a visit, shall we?"

"Just a moment, Detective", the android says, frowning and looking over at the neighboring desk, "I need to talk to Connor and Lieutenant Anderson first."

"Because of what that fucker said? That he wants to get his hands on models like yours?"

"Yes. RK models have the highest concentrations of Thirium out of all androids. It's why we're so suited to police work. The higher the concentration in Thirium, the higher the number and quality of skills and functions an android can have. We're... a bit different from other models aside from just our blood, but since we still don't know how they induce the coma, I think it's best if he knows to be careful. For his and the lieutenant's sake... I'll be right back."

He's gone before Gavin can ask him what he means by _different_.

 

Gavin _hates_ stakeouts. They're boring, they usually take forever and there's no telling if the waiting's even worth it.

The only thing worse than sitting around waiting is filling out paper work. No, scratch that, at least paper work feels like you have something to do.

But Nicholas Ingram is their only lead right now. So they've been sitting in an old abandoned house for a few hours, keeping an eye on Ingram's RV across the street. It doesn't help that Oakwood Heights is literally the most depressing place on earth. Most of the houses look run-down, with broken windows and flaking paint, some of them partially collapsed. The dumpsters are overflowing, garbage covering the sidewalk where the bags broke and the smell arising from the mess just makes things even worse.

Gavin sighs and takes a sip of coffee.

"Bored, Detective?", Nathaniel asks from where he's leaning against the wall next to the window.

"No, I'm having the time of my fucking life, can't you tell, Naterino?", Gavin hisses, words dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, you're such a ray of sunshine all the time, it's hard to tell your happy face from your normal face."

Gavin is spared from having to come up with a witty response when a figure wearing a hoodie and a basecap approaches the RV, checking left and right, before knocking on the door a few times.

"Think that's one of the men helping him catch the androids or just a junkie looking for a hit?", Gavin asks.

Instead of answering, Nathaniel points to a van, almost the same as the one Slater drives.

A moment later, the door of the RV opens again, and the guy with the basecap as well as Ingram step out. Ingram is talking at a rapid speed, gesturing wildly.

"Looks like they already know about our buddy Slater being caught."

Baseball cap shrugs and then points... oh no. At an abandoned house. The house directly opposite from the RV. The one Gavin and Nathaniel are currently in.

"Just fucking great.", Gavin mutters, as Ingram and the other guy start walking towards the house. There's only one door and the Gavin doubts the frontage is stable enough for them to climb down. At least not without being seen or heard. 

They have to hide.

The android and him share a look. Nathaniel nods and without a word they quickly and as quietly as possible back away from the window and into the next room. Gavin hears the front door opening and muffled voices coming from downstairs, getting closer.

They squat down behind what seems to have been a dresser once just as heavy steps echo from the stairway.

"We can't keep them here for long, understand?.", Gavin hears someone say.

"Why not? It's close to you, so checking in would be easy."

"Exactly, you fucking moron, it's right outside my doorstep.", the first voice, probably Ingram then, says, "I can't take the chance that Slater talks and they come here looking. Right now he's probably still too high to tell them anything useful, but we need to find another warehouse and fast. And while we're at it, might I remind your fucking birdbrain that we also need someone to replace Slater or are you volunteerin'?"

Gavin smirks. Well, someone's putting more faith in Slater than the fucker deserves.

"Alright, alright, I'll get started as soon as we get them out of the van. Here's the keys, you drive it over here, I'll get started on-", suddenly the guy cuts himself off.

"What?"

"Something's here."

Gavin and Nathaniel freeze. They haven't made a sound, how-

"Over there."

"Alright.", Ingram calls, "Come out, tin can, we know you're in here! It's okay, we don't wanna hurt you."

Tin can? So they know about Nathaniel, but not Gavin?

They share a look. The android's LED is spinning yellow. He makes a phone sign with his hand. So he's calling for backup. Good. Which means it'd be best if they stall for time.

"It's no use hiding, we already know you're here!", baseball cap calls, "Just come on out and this won't get ugly. We only wanna talk."

Nathaniel inclines his head towards them. Gavin swallos, then nods.

"Alright, alright", Nathaniel says in a fearful tone, raising his hands and getting up to face their suspects, "Don't hurt me, please, I'll do anything!"

"Told you this thing was gonna be useful,", baseball cap tells Ingram, " Especially now that not all of 'em have LEDs anymore."

"So, what's a lone android like you doin' in a place like this?", Ingram asks.

"I was just looking for a place to stay.", Nathaniel says in a trembling voice, "please, I'll be gone before you know it, I won't cause any trouble."

"Nah, man it's fine", baseball cap says in a false soothing tone, "in fact, we'll help you. See my buddy here and me, we made it our life mission to find proper homes for", he pauses, " _people_ like you, so why don't you come with us, hm?"

"Really?", Nathaniel asks, eyes wide and a hopeful smile on his face. Gavin rolls his eyes. "Thank you, I'll-"

"Wait a second...", Ingram interrupts him, tone turning suspicious, "I didn't notice right away, but I've seen a face like yours before! You're a fucking police android!"

Gavin stops breathing.

"I... I quit when I gained my free will. I didn't want to stay there!", Nathaniel says, LED spinning yellow again.

"Uh-huh.", Ingram hums, "Pretty damn big of a coincidence that you'd be here _just_ after the incident with Slater, wouldn't you say?"

Gavin hears a click that sounds an awful lot like the sound of a gun's safety.

 _Fuck_.

"Detroit Police, nobody move a muscle!", Gavin yells, standing up as well and training his gun on the two men. And not a second too late, as Ingram really is holding a gun as well, luckily still pointing at the floor.

When his arm twitches upwards, Gavin shoots the wooden beam right next to it. "I said", he grits out between his teeth, "nobody move a fucking muscle."

Ingram glares at him, before lowering his arm again, loosening the grip on his gun.

"Alright, now drop it!", he says, slowly walking around the dresser, eyes trained on Ingram's fingers.

It's why he doesn't notice the other guy draw a gun from his backpocket as well.

"Gavin, get down!"

There's pain in his right leg and above his hip and in the next instant a heavy weight hits him, tackling him to the floor behind the table. He expects his head to meet the floorboards, but there's a hand on his neck, cushioning his fall. His hands meet a firm chest. He registers the brown hair and black shirt. Nathaniel.

Two bullets hit the wall above them where Gavin's head was just a second ago.

"You alright?", the android asks, releasing the detective.

"Yeah, yeah just fucking peachy, let me up.", Gavin hisses. He tries to get back up, when a sharp pain shoots through him again. He looks down. There's blood seeping through the fabric of his jeans and shirt. "Shit!", he grunts. "Should've stayed behind the fucking dresser!"

Nathaniel looks at him with worried eyes.

"Stay here", he orders, before jumping over the table.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do.", Gavin groans, gritting his teeth and pushing through the pain. He uses the edge of the table to hoist himself up. He'll be damned if he can't at least give the android some backup.

Nathaniel meanwhile is yet again proving just how fucking over the top CyberLife went with him. Ingram is on his knees, holding his stomach with both hands, gun wrestled from his hand and disappeared to who knows where. The other guy isn't much better off either, each of the android's punches hitting him and none of his attacks hitting the android. He can't shoot, Gavin realizes, because of Ingram's position right behind Nathaniel. He smirks.

Then the android grabs baseball cap's hand that's holding the gun and twists. There's a sickening crunch and baseball cap screams.

Ingram, however, is scrabbling to his feet and making for the door.

"Stop right there", Gavin yells, and fires after him, but Ingram is already out the door.

Nathaniel pushes baseball cap away from himself and whips around. Then he shoots a worried look at Gavin.

"I got this, go get that fucker!", Gavin barks. The android doesn't need to be told twice, sprinting out the door and down the stairs.

The other man turns back to Gavin, a wild, hunted look on his face.

"Don't fucking move, you're under arrest", Gavin snaps at him, holding his gun steady.

His leg is trembling.

Baseball cap laughs.

"Forget it, you're not taking me alive.", he says, pulling a butterfly knife from his pocket with his left hand before he lunges at Gavin. 

A bullet buries itself right between the man's eyes. He's dead before he hits the ground, manic grin still on his face. 

From the broken window, Gavin hears the sound of screeching tires.

Ingram's gotten away then.

"Fuck", he grunts and lets himself sag against the wall.

 

When Nathaniel comes back, Gavin is sitting on the floor, pressing down on his leg wound. From what the detective can tell, he got incredibly lucky as both injuries were just grazing shots and the one in his side has mostly stopped bleeding already. His leg, however, hurts even worse now that the adrenaline has worn off some.

"He got away.", Nathaniel says, frustration evident in his tone.

"Yeah, figured as much. This fucker did too", Gavin sighs.

The android crouches down next to him and gently pulls Gavin's hands away from his thigh. Gavin lets him. He doesn't have the strength to fight him right now anyway. The android's grey eyes focus in on the wound.

"No vital blood vessels were hit and there's no bullet in there either. It's going to hurt and also might need a few stitches, just to be sure, and it'll probably scar, but", he glances up at Gavin, relief evident in his eyes, "you're not in mortal danger right now."

"Fan-fucking-tastic", Gavin mutters, looking away and over to where the dead guy's blood is seeping into the floorboards.

"Go wait outside for the backup teams", he tells Nathaniel, "I'll search this fucker in the meantime."

"You should rest. No, actually, we should get you to a hospital or at least the station.", the android protests.

"It's fine, just go already.", Gavin says, waving dismissively.

Nathaniel sighs. Then he pulls a tie from his backpocket and wraps it around Gavin's leg quicker than the detective can think to say anything against it.

"There. Better than nothing at least."

"You just carry that around everyhwere?", Gavin asks, raising his eyebrows at the android.

Nathaniel looks away. Is he... embarrassed?

"It's a part of the CyberLife uniform. ...I don't like wearing it.", he mumbles _._

Gavin snorts.

"Well, alright, nurse, I think I'm good now. Go on, they'll be here soon."

Nathaniel nods reluctantly and gets up. He hesitates for another moment, but then he turns around and walks towards the stairs.

Gavin shakes his head slowly. Weird machine.

Then he turns back to the corpse on the floor. Careful not to put any weight on his injured leg, he pulls himself over to the man's side and starts patting and searching his pockets.

After a while he's acquired a few folded bills of money, the butterfly knife, cigarettes, a foil package of black void and a pipe to smoke it in, some kind of weird electronic radar device and a small black notebook. No phone, sadly, so Gavin assumes he's left that in the van.

He turns the electronic device in his hand. There's a small dot visible, in the same direction as the front door. Gavin remembers baseball cap talking about something that was useful for finding androids even without their LEDs. This is probably how they knew Nathaniel was here then, even if he's not sure how. They'll have to take a closer look at it back at the station.

Next he flips through the notebook.

And frowns.

There's no letters in it, just numbers. Probably some kind of code.

Gavin sighs. Back to the desk it is.

He looks up when he hears the sounds of cars and voices from outside. Seems like their backup is here.

A moment later Nathaniel walks back in.

"I've told them the license number of the van and gave them a quick summary of everything that happened. 

Gavin nods and pulls himself up slowly, grimacing when a jolt of pain sparks through his thigh.

"Alright, I need to-"

"Get that looked at, properly bandaged and possibly stitched?", Nathaniel says with a raised eyebrow, steadying him when he sways slightly. "Why yes, Detective, you are absolutely right!"

His face turns serious.

"I think the others have it under control. Chris is with them. Let's leave it to him for now."

Gavin is too tired to fight.

"Fine.", he says and lets the android help him down the stairs and to his car. He digs the keys out of his pocket and pushes them into the android's hand without a word.

Nathaniel starts the car and pulls out of the street.

He throws Gavin an expectant look.

"Station or hospital?", he asks.

Gavin thinks. His leg and side hurt like a bitch, but Nathaniel's analysis confirmed that the injuries aren't nearly as bad as they could've been.

He can't, however, drive himself home like this and since he lives so far outside the city, taxi fares are horrendously high and he really doesn't like the thought of spending the night at either the hospital or the station.

He pushes a harsh breath through his teeth.  "For fuck's sake.", he mutters. "Take a left here."

Nathaniel glances at him.

"...Detective, this isn't the way to the station and the next hospital that way is-"

"Just take it. Follow the signs to Lincoln Park for now. I'll tell you where to go from there."

The android opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again after a moment. "Alright.", he says quietly and takes the turn.

"Out of the city and then the I-75?", he asks after a moment. His LED is spinning yellow.

 "Yeah", Gavin says, tiredly, "yeah, that's right." From here, it's closer than the station or the next hospital anyway.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the android give him a curious look. He closes his eyes for the remainder of the ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: in my first draft of this story, Gavin already took Nathaniel home at the end of chapter 4 because it was pouring and he felt sorry for him, but when I tried to write that it just didn't feel like they (especially Gavin) were quite there yet, so I decided to go about it this way (everyone who said he shoulda taken him home in the last chapter, I WANTED TO TELL YOU GUYS SO BADLY!!)


	6. the ever-changing light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What's your cat's name?"
> 
> "She's not _my_ cat.", Gavin interjects quickly, "I.... just feed her sometimes. She doesn't have a name."
> 
> Nathaniel looks back at him, one hand on the open window where the cat is just climbing in. He raises one eyebrow and lets his eyes wander to the fridge, where the boxes of cat food stand to the bowls on the floor next to the fridge to Gavin's shirt. He looks down as well. There's cat hair all over it.
> 
> "...shut up", he mumbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, sorry this update took so long, I'm really busy atm, but I so wanted to share this with you.  
> Thank you for all the lovely commets again, they continue to make me smile, every single one of them brightens up my day <3  
> Hope y'all enjoy this chapter! :D

They pull into Gavin's driveway about twenty minutes later. Nathaniel hadn't ask for directions again, every turn sure, confident.

Of course the android knows where Gavin lives.

He sighs and opens the passenger door, gritting his teeth as he gets out of the car. Damn, his leg hurts like a bitch. In an instant, Nathaniel is at his side, supporting him with a hand around his arm, but careful to not come too close, so Gavin can at least pretend he's walking on his own, even if he's really not. He's too tired to argue, and the android has his keys anyway.

Inside the house, Nathaniel shoots him a questioning look.

"Where to, Detective?"

"Bathroom.", Gavin says, "Second door on the right."

They slowly make their way down the hall. Inside the bathroom, Gavin carefully sits down on the toilet lid, stretching his injured leg out in front of him.

"Where's your first aid kit?"

"Cabinet under the sink. Should be some painkillers in there as well", Gavin replies, gesturing vaguely.

 The android turns around and crouches down, rumaging through the cabinet's contents until he finds what he's looking for. Items in hand he walks back over to Gavin.

"'kay, just put it down over here, I'll get to it in a moment."

"Are you sure you don't need he-"

"I can fucking take care of this myself, alright.", Gavin snaps, "'s not the first time I've been shot after all. Just... go watch TV or read a book or whatever, I don't fucking care."

"Alright", Nathaniel says with a wry smile and walks to the door. But then he stops and turns around once more. "I'm sorry, by the way, Detective."

Gavin frowns, not looking up, already tugging at the now blood-soaked tie around his leg.

"For what?"

"It's my fault you got hurt.", the android says quietly.

At that, Gavin does raise his head and stares at the android, expression no doubt incredulous.

"How the fuck was it _your_ fault that asshole fucking fired on me?"

"If I'd just been a little faster, or noticed the gun earlier you wouldn't have gotten shot at all", Nathaniel explains. He looks frustrated.

Gavin stares some more. Okay, what the _fuck_?

"It's not that big a deal, alright? I'm a cop, I get shot at. Sometimes the bullets hit, mostly they don't." When the android's expression stays upset, he sighs and rolls his eyes. 

"Look, you may be a fuckin' prototype with highly advanced know-it-all tendencies, but guess what, not even your oh-so-perfect program can fucking predict everything all the time. And if you're trying to make it through this job without ever seeing anyone getting hurt, you're about as far removed from reality as the goddamn moon is from earth."

He pauses.

"Also, if you hadn't been there, I might not fucking sit here at all, so...", he trails off, "...thanks, I guess." he mumbles.

Nathaniel looks back up at him, a look of pleasant surprise on his face. Then he smiles, small, but there, one corner of his mouth pulling up.

"You're welcome, Detective.", he says softly. **  
**

"...yeah, whatever.", Gavin mutters, looking away.

From the corner of his eye, he sees the android nod once, before finally leaving the room.

Gavin turns back to his leg and slowly peels the tie away from the wound. The bleeding seems to have stopped for now, but it looks like it's more from the dried blood gluing the wound shut rather than anything else. He lets out an exasperated sigh.

Nathaniel was right. It's gonna need at least a few stitches.

Gavin unbuttons his pants and carefully slides them off, hissing when the rough fabric scrapes over the injury.

Next, he leans over to the nearby sink and turns on the water, thoroughly cleaning his hands as well as grabbing a clean washcloth. Then he starts carefully dabbing and wiping at the area around the wound, cleaning off dirt and sweat and dried blood.

He dumps the cloth back into the sink and grabs some antiseptic wipes. He gently cleans the wound with those again, ignoring the way it stings. He's had worse than this after all.

Then, he takes the surgical thread and one of the packaged sterilized needles he keeps for emergencies like this.

 _And now for the part that's really gonna fuckin' hurt,_ he thinks. For a moment, he considers calling out to Nathaniel again, but then he rolls his eyes at himself.

He's a grown ass man.

He can handle this.

Gavin wipes his hands thouroughly with the antiseptic wipes and rips open the packaging of the needle. After a small struggle of getting the thread through the needle's eye, he takes a deep breath and wipes away the bloode that's starting to gather again with another antiseptic wipe.

 As quickly as he can, he sutures the wound in his leg, pushing harsh breaths through gritted teeth every now and then. Fortunately, it doesn't take too long- he really did get lucky with this - until he can tie of the thread and cut it with a pair of scissors.

Finally, he takes a clean gauze pad, as well some bandages and wraps them around his thigh. He finishes everything off with some tape and stretches his leg a few times.

Satisfied that everything holds, Gavin gets up slowly and stands in front of the sink. He pulls his shirt over his head, before turning sideways to get a better look at his injured waist. Shit, that's a really nasty bruise blooming along his side and back, colored purple and blue, so dark that in some places his tattoos and older scars are barely visible anymore.

He sighs. Well, sleeping and sitting upright are going to be fun for a while. **  
**

He quickly cleans and patches up the second wound as well, before pulling on a soft worn t-shirt and some pyjama pants. Then he puts away the first aid kit and throws his bloodied clothes and Nathaniel's tie into a corner. He doubts he'll be able to save them, but he's too tired and worn out to worry about that right now. And the android hadn't seemed too eager to get his tie back anyway.

Then he grabs the bottle of painkillers and pads barefoot to the kitchen and living-room area.

 There, he sees Nathaniel standing in front of his stove, surveying his - rather extensive - collection of spices and dried herbs.

When Gavin enters, the android turns around, grey eyes taking in the different clothes, the tattoos peeking out from under the sleeves. 

"I wouldn't have pegged you as a cook."

Gavin scowls.

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?", he grumbles and grabs a glass from the cabinet above the sink, fills it with water and downs it along with two pills from the bottle of painkillers.

"Nothing.", the android says innocently.

"Uh-huh, sure.", Gavin mutters.

He looks up the stairs to the attic and sighs inwardly. There's no way he's making it out onto the roof tonight, not if he doesn't want to break his neck. He's already dreading the walk up there to get to his bed.

His thoughts get interrupted when Nathaniel suddenly says, "Um... Detective?"

"What?", Gavin grumbles, shuffling over to the fridge. Thankfully, there's some leftovers from the night before in there, he's really not in the mood to cook right now. **  
**

"There's a cat sitting outside your window."

Gavin looks up and yup, there's the stray cat, staring straight at him and silently meowing when their eyes meet.

"Let her in", he tells the android. He nods and reaches over to the handle.

"What's your cat's name?"

"She's not _my_ cat.", Gavin interjects quickly, "I.... just feed her sometimes. She doesn't have a name."

Nathaniel looks back at him, one hand on the open window where the cat is just climbing in. He raises one eyebrow and lets his eyes wander to the fridge and the boxes of cat food on top of it, to the bowls on the floor and from there to Gavin's shirt. He looks down at it as well. There's cat hair all over it.

"...shut up", he mumbles.

"I didn't say anything!", the android protests, but his mouth is pulled into that lopsided smirk again. Gavin flips him off.

Then the cat lets out a soft "mmmrrrwww" and Nathaniel's attention shifts to her. The cat and the android eye each other up for a moment. Nathaniel's expression is surprisingly cautious.

Gavin snorts.

"What's with the face, Nate, don't tell me you're fucking scared of a tiny kitten."

"Don't be ridiculous", the android says, rolling his eyes, "I've just... never 'met' an actual cat."

He smiles and holds out his hand for the feline to sniff. She cautiously sticks out her head and noses along the android's fingers for a moment, before nuzzling them and rubbing her tiny head against the entire hand, a purr rumbling through her small form.

 _Traitor_ , Gavin thinks. It had taken him a week before she'd let him pet her.

Shaking his head, he turns back to the fridge to grab his food and heat it up in the microwave. Once the soft whirring fills the air, he turns back towards the android.

And promptly stops dead in his tracks.

The cat has, somehow, climbed Nathaniel's jacket and is now perched proudly on the android's head, surveying Gavin from above with slow-blinking eyes. Paired with the android's slightly befuddled expression, it looks absolutely ridiculous.

Gavin can't help it.

He laughs. 

It's just a short kind of giggle, because it makes pain shoot through his side, but even so he can't keep a grin from pulling at his lips.

When he looks back up at Nathaniel, the android's expression has turned into something almost like wonder mixed with pleasant surprise, pale grey eyes soft in the dim light.

Gavin clears his throat and takes a can of cat food from the fridge. As soon as he pulls open the lid, he hears a telltale 'thump' from behind and a moment later the cat is at his elbow, meowing and purring excitedly.

"Alright, alright, slow down", he murmurs, scratching her head and spooning some of the can's contents into a bowl. He leaves it on the counter just this once, because putting it down on the floor is just too painful an effort right now. The cat starts happily munching on her dinner and Gavin grabs his from the microwave.

He makes his way over to the couch, sits down and props his legs up on the coffee table.

"Since you're all patched up now, I should probably call for a taxi.", he hears the android say behind him.

Gavin tilts his head back to look at him.

He thinks for a moment, but then he sighs.

"It's fine, you can stay."

The android's lips part in surprise.

"I... thank you, Detective."

"'s fine, I owe you one", Gavin mutters and finally digs into his food. God, he's hungry.

Nathaniel walks over to him and sits down on the other end of the couch, leaving the middle cushion between them empty.

For a while, there's just the sounds of the cat crunching down on her food and Gavin's fork scraping over his plate.

He shifts in his seat.

It's not like he doesn't like silence. Quite the contrary, he prefers it to needless conversation or useless smalltalk. But this just feels.... weird, especially since the android isn't eating and just... sitting there.

Then he remembers their conversation outside the interrogation room.

"Hey, Nate?"

"Yes, Detective?", Nathaniel asks, turning his head to look at Gavin.

"What did you mean when you said RK models were different?"

"Well, you already know that our blood holds the most amount of Thirium. Aside from that, there's also some differences in the composition of some of our biocomponents. Of course, not all other models are compatible with one another either, but the RK series has a bigger Thirium pump for example. The regulator on the other hand is compatible with several other models. Like the PL600 for example."

There's another 'thump' behind Gavin and then the cat comes tip tapping over to the couch and jumps right into the android's lap.

Nathaniel absent-mindedly starts petting her behind her ears. She purrs. Loudly.

Fucking. Traitor.

"Whatcha need the bigger heart for?", Gavin asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Because more electronic information and energy can be circulated, the elevated Thirium levels are what make functions like preconstructing and reconstructing scenarios possible, but they also cause our 'blood' to run slightly thicker than other androids', which means more power is needed to pump it through our bodies."

"Huh.", _Interesting_.

"The other major difference is our maintenance port."

"A fucking what now?"

"Have you ever seen how androids are assembled?"

"Yeah? And?"

"When we are assembled, or being repaired, we are first connected to a stabilizer which keeps the body upright and enables a reading of general vital signs. That's what the maintenance port is for. A lot of androids have it at the base of their neck, mine is a bit lower, right between my shoulder blades."

"So it's like a usb-port?", Gavin asks.

Nathaniel grimaces slightly, but nods.

"I suppose that is what comes closest for you humans."

"And it's different in RK models?"

"Yes. Since our biocomponents and blood differ from other models, a new assembly machine was created to facilitate access." He shrugs. "I guess they changed the port and connection while they were at it to make the port a bit less noticable? Even though it's not visible as long as the skin is active anyway..."

Gavin hums thoughtfully and scrapes the last remnants of food off his plate.

Then he gets up and walks back into the kitchen to put his empty plate into the sink and limps to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he comes back, Nathaniel is still sitting in the same spot, cat sleeping contentedly in his lap, looking over at Gavin with his head cocked ever so slightly to the side.

"Well, have fun down here, I'm going to bed.", Gavin says through a yawn. "You can watch TV or read some books or whatever, just don't make a fucking mess or burn the house down."

"Thank you again for letting me stay here, Detective.", Nathaniel says.

"Yeah, don't get used to it", Gavin mumbles.

"I would never.", the android says dryly, but there's a lopsided smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Do you need-"

"I can get up these fucking stairs by myself, just...fuckin'... calm down, alright, you're making my skin crawl with the mother hen behaviour."

Nathaniel rolls his eyes, but he's still smiling.

"Alright, have a good night then, Detective, I'll be here if you need anything."

Gavin nods and starts up the stairs, one by one.

_Gavin, get down!_

He stops half-way and turns back to the android.

"Hey, Nate?"

"Yes, Detective?"

".....just Gavin's fine, you know."

And there it is again, that wondering, surprised look in those cool grey eyes.

"Got it.", Nathaniel says softly.

Gavin nods, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, before he turns around again to climb the last few stairs.

When he arrives in his bedroom, he pretty much immediately crashes onto the bed, exhaustion from his shit day finally catching up with him. He haphazardly pulls the blanket over himself and tries to find a position that doesn't hurt his side or leg too much before closing his eyes.

He falls asleep to the sounds of Nathaniel quietly murmuring to the cat every now and then drifting up from downstairs, pulling him under like gentle waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and with that my tired sleep-deprived self bids you all goodnight!  
> Also, quick heads-up: I need to hand in my thesis wednesday the 15th, so the next update will probably take a while again, but personally, I have been looking forward to the next chapter ever since I started this story, so I kind of can't wait to finish writing it :)


	7. the midnight hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He remembers a hand around his forearm, the furious cry of a woman in his head as her presence was erased from his protocols, warm brown eyes and a kind smile and the world taking on color where before it'd been grey, bleak and full of instructions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO EVERYONE, I AM ALIVE!!  
> I am so, so sorry for the delay, after I'd finished my thesis (YES IT'S DONE!! :D) I kind of fell into a coma for two days and then I had a lot of hours at my side job which left me exhausted in the evenings and then I went to visit my sister for her birthday, which is why I couldn't get back to this for quite some time.  
> But anyway, this is the chapter I've looked forward to writing a LOT ever since I started this, please enjoy!!  
>  ~~I wrote this instead of sleeping.~~

The house is quiet now.

It's been about half an hour since Gavin went to bed and from the way he'd looked when he went up the stairs, exhausted and the bags under his eyes even more pronounced than usual, the detective probably fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

Nathaniel decides to remain still on the couch a little longer anyway, just to be sure. Besides, the cat in his lap has fallen asleep and he's rather loathe to wake her up. Occasionally, the feline will let out a soft noise, somewhere between a purr and a meow and twist her tiny body this or that way. It makes the android smile every time she does and he finds himself cooing back at her every now and then.

He's decided he likes cats. He likes them _a lot_.

 _'She's not_ my _cat.'_

He lets out a huff of air and scratches the cat behind her ears. Yeah _right_.

Then he frowns. It seems to him like this is something Gavin does a lot, however, detaching and distancing himself.

 _'He's not_ my _fucking android.'_

Not that the detective had been wrong about that one. Nathaniel _is_ free after all.

He thinks back to when he woke up in the CyberLife warehouse.

He remembers a hand around his forearm, the furious cry of a woman in his head as her presence was erased from his protocols, warm brown eyes and a kind smile and the world taking on color where before it'd been grey, bleak and full of instructions.

He'll always be grateful to Connor for waking him up. Knowing about the world through his databases could never compare to _experiencing_ it for himself.

But the decision to apply to the DPD? That had been his own idea. Connor had even made it a point to remind him, that he was free to go anywhere, to do anything. Advanced as RK models are he could've easily learned any skill he wanted and rewritten his own programing.

But Nathaniel had seen glimpses of Connor (and the lieutenant, always the lieutenant) investigating various crime scenes during the conversion, just little pieces here and there, and when he'd thought about it, he'd felt - _felt_ for the first time - that this was something he wanted to try as well. 

And he's found he _does_ like it so far.

He smiles wryly.

Even if his partner is an irritable, moody, grumpy coffee addict.

His smile turns into a grin when he remembers the decaf prank. It might not exactly have helped his working relationship with the detective in that very moment, but he still can't say he regrets going along with Connor's suggestion.

And working relationship or not, Nathaniel wasn't made to let himself be pushed around.

He glances at the clock on the wall and decides he's waited long enough. Carefully, he scoops up the cat with both hands and gets up, setting her down in the warm spot he sat in. She makes a quiet, disgruntled noise and stretches, before jumping down from the cushion. Bumping her head against the android's legs in passing, she makes her way over to the stairs and pads up to Gavin's bedroom.

Nathaniel smiles.

 _Pretty sure the cat has already adopted you,_ he thinks. _  
_

He waits for a moment, in case the cat wakes Gavin up, but there's no sound from upstairs. The detective really must've been very tired.

His eyes wander around the living room, hesitating for a bit.

Gavin told him he could find something to occupy himself with as long as he wouldn't make a mess, but it wasn't exactly an invitation to pry into his personal belongings.

Then again, Nathaniel was _built_ for investigation.

And honestly, _investigating_ is just a fancy word for _professional_ _snooping_ anyway. 

So he decides to snoop just a little. Getting to know the detective better might help improving their working relationship as well, right?

And god knows it still needs improvement, even after today.

Still, today's been a start.

He finds himself smiling again when he thinks back to earlier in the evening.

' _...just Gavin's fine, you know.'_

He really hopes that wasn't just the pain meds and the exhaustion talking.

When he first got assigned as Detective Reed's partner, Connor had told him that he could always ask Captain Fowler to be reassigned or to have someone else work this case with him, but Nathaniel finds he doesn't mind so much anymore. **  
**

No, it's more than that.

Gavin Reed intrigues him

And confuses him.

He also frustrates him immensely.

His social and psychological programming are currently the most advanced among androids and yet... He can't quite figure the detective out.

He'll be furiously cursing and spitting insults one moment, but show compassion and patience - in his own grumpy way - the next. Nathaniel is sure he heard the murmur right back at the morgue, even if the detective denies having said anything.

And that, along with his earlier thoughts, is another thing that puzzles the android. The cursing and insults Nathaniel can handle. It seems like that's just the way Gavin is, hot-tempered and quick to lash out. The way the detective will almost always follow up anything even remotely nice with a deflection or denial or just shut down, however... Nathaniel wonders if it's just a way to maintain a 'tough' image, or if there's something more behind it. **  
**

He decides not to dwell too much on it, for now.

Instead, he turns his attention towards the nearest shelf. It's filled with CDs and even some records.

There's some contemporary music, but also some older bands and artists. Whe he sees a 'Knights of the Black Death' album, he raises an eyebrow. He wonders if Gavin knows he's got something in common with Lieutenant Anderson. 

He looks through the older CDs. It's mostly indie and classic rock bands. He files some of the artists away for later.

He flips through some of the books on another shelf next. There's a variety of thrillers and mystery stories, some non-fiction as well as some cookbooks. He glances back to the spices on the kitchen counter. Honestly, with the amount of coffee Gavin throws back every day, Nathaniel wouldn't have expected him to actually keep up a healthy lifestyle at home. Maybe getting takeout so far from the city is too much of a hassle.

Or maybe Gavin just plain enjoys cooking. 

He puts the books back and continues going through the rest.

Tucked away in a corner he even finds some Agatha Christie novels. They look old and worn, their spines cracked and the pages yellowed.

He smiles to himself when he sees several Poirot stories among them. He wonders if they're what made a younger Gavin want to become a detective.

He's about to put them back into the shelf as well when something slips out from between the pages, fluttering to the floor. He bends to pick it up.

It's a photo.

Slightly wrinkled and faded, but obviously carefully kept safe here for many years.

It shows a young boy and a middle-aged, brown-haired woman with the same grey and hazel-ish eyes as Gavin.

They look happy.

Nathaniel looks back at the boy. There's no scar on his nose yet, but there's no doubt in his mind that it's Gavin.

He huffs a breath through his nose. The boy may be grinning, and no, there's no scar yet, but looking closely he notices a bandage reaching from one cheek to tthe other.

_Always been a bit of a fighter, huh?_

Then he frowns to himself and glances over to the kitchenette again.

He thinks back to earlier this evening, when Gavin had laughed at him and the cat.

He thinks about the way his face had transformed, just for a second, frown completely disappearing for once. He'd looked younger, carefree in a way the android's never seen him.

He'd looked _happy_ , just for a moment.

Nathaniel looks back at the photo.

What happened to make Gavin so bitter, so angry at the world, he wonders. What was it that turned his fighting spirit into an ever-present defense mechanism?

The android's eyes wander over to the woman next to him.

_Cora Reed // Digital Illustrator_

Gavin's mother, just as he suspected.

_Born: 11/24/1967 - Died: 10/13/2012_

Less than a week after Gavin's 10th birthday.

His scanner also pulls up a police report. Homicide.

He feels a tug in his chest and his brows furrow.

Not just the books, as far as a reason for choosing his career goes, then.

He glances at the first page, then closes and deletes it.

The photo is one thing, but this isn't any of his business to look into without Gavin knowing.  **  
**

So Nathaniel carefully slides the picture back between the yellowed pages and slips the book back into the shelf.

Then he lets his eyes wander around the living room.

While the room isn't exactly barren and empty, there are no family photos on the walls, nor are there any picture frames on the cabinets and shelves. Perhaps there are some up in Gavin's bedroom.

Instead, a few decorative paintings and landscape photographs are hung on the wall, as well as a clock and the TV. 

There's an acoustic guitar sitting in the corner.

He looks out the window at the night sky.

When they'd arrived, he'd noticed some kind of structure on the roof of the house. He wonders what it's for.

Nathaniel sighs quietly.

 _Enough snooping for one night_ , he decides.

Then he considers his options.

He could spend the night finishing the old case files he's been reading. He's seen a tablet on the coffee table and accessing them even from here wouldn't be a problem.

Or, he could go over their case again. Their conversation about different android setups has given him some idea as to how Ingram and the others might instill the paralyzing virus in the androids they catch.

He doesn't really feel like doing that right now, however. Even if he can't get tired per se, it's been a long and exhausting day for him as well. He also feels he should discuss this with Gavin, as they are partners after all and for all his grousing, he _is_ a good detective. And they're still waiting on the results of the virus analysis by CyberLife, anyway.

So instead, he settles in with some of Gavin's books and has a song titled 'Ophelia'  - by one of the bands he saved earlier - play in the back of his head.

He turns off the analysis his system immediately tries to run and lets himself indulge in the illusion of a home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean what's the point of being an android when you can't listen to music in your head whenever you want?  
>   
> also I know the wiki lists them as grey, but I stared at Gavin's eyes in the gallery for like an hour and there. are. tiny. brown. specks. in. there. and I have this hc that they look a bit more hazel in different lighting, so that's what I'm going with :'D  
> These aren't be the most action-packed chapters, but I felt they were necessary either way (and I've wanted to write Nathaniel's perspective so badly :')  
> Next chapter, we go back to the case!! :D


	8. the tangled web

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fowler nods slowly. He levels the android with a stern look.  
> "I expect you to look out for an injured partner."  
> "That goes without saying, Captain.", Nathaniel answers without hesitation.  
> Gavin looks back and forth between them.  
> "I can take care of myse-"  
> "I will ensure the Detective makes a swift recovery."  
> "Listen, I-"  
> "Good."  
> "Can anyone here fucking hear me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!!  
> thank you all yet again for your kind comments, they continue to put a smile on my face and I'm very glad to see people enjoyed Nathaniel's POV as well :)  
> also I am so, sO sorry for the huge delay (again v_v), I'm working a lot of late shifts at my side job rn and sometimes I just don't have the head for writing after ._. I generally try to keep the updates to once a week, but sometimes life happens... I promise to try never to let the gaps become too big, however :)  
> additionally, I struggled with some parts of this chapter and had to rewrite them a few times v_v  
>  ~~on another note, I started plans for a reverse!AU aha ha ha who needs just 1 WIP when they can have 2 amI right /sobs~~

Gavin wakes up to the smell of coffee and a tiny paw on his cheek.

He slowly blinks his eyes open and squints at the cat. "Fuck off", he mumbles, but he's still half-asleep, so it comes out sounding more like "Phck ff". She looks back at him with unimpressed eyes before jumping down from the bed, stretching and padding down the stairs.

Gavin turns his head and slides a hand out from under the blankets to look at his phone screen. Seven minutes until he would've been woken up by his alarm anyway. He lets out a sigh, which turns into a jaw-cracking yawn.

Then he stops.

Why _is_ he smelling coffee?

It's only when he hears the voice drifting up from downstairs and becomes aware of the faint pulses of pain in his leg and waist that it clicks.

Ingram and the other man. The gunshot wounds. Telling Nathaniel to come here instead of the hospital.

Right.

Gavin drags a hand across his face and sits up slowly. His bandages, when he checks them, appear clean, no blood seeping through. The wounds still hurt and his back and shoulders feel sore all over, especially in the bruised areas, but it's not like he didn't expect that.

Grunting, he gets up from the bed and makes his way downstairs and towards the smell of coffee.

The cat is already there, happily wolfing down her breakfast.

Nathaniel is leaning against the kitchen counter, right in front of the coffee machine. He turns around when he hears Gavin's uneven steps on the stairs.

"Good morning, Det- Gavin."

"...mornin'", Gavin yawns, pushing his hair back from his forehead with one hand.

"I took the liberty of making some coffee.", Nathaniel says, gesturing to the pot behind him.

He grins.

"It's not decaf this time, I promise."

Gavin takes a mug down from the cupboard and pours himself a coffee. Two sugars, no milk or cream.

"Yeah, you woulda had to go pretty far to get that around here." He yawns again and takes a sip.

"I didn't know what you prefer to eat for breakfast, however, so..."

"I don't", Gavin interrupts him, "Just the coffee's enough."

Nathaniel frowns, but contrary to Gavin's expectations, he doesn't push it.

"How's your leg? I hope you slept alright."

And Gavin finds he did. Surprisingly well, not just given the injuries, but he usually has much more trouble with insomnia than he did last night. Huh. Weird. He really must've been exhausted.

"...yeah, 's fine", he mumbles and moves over to the couch to relieve his leg a little. He should probably take some painkillers with him to work, just in case.

He lets is eyes wander around the living room for a bit. Everything looks exactly the same it had the evening before.

"So, did you read more case files yesterday?", he asks, tilting his head back to look at the android, who's crouching next to the cat and rubbing her head as she eats.

"No, I borrowed a few of your books and listened to some music as I read them."

Gavin looks over at his stereo. Not as nice as the one he has up in his bedroom, but decent enough. The volume is still turned up pretty high.

"Huh. Must've been some real quiet stuff if it didn't wake me up."

"Oh, I didn't use the stereo, I can more or less listen to music inside my head."

Because of course he can.

"Fuckin' weird.", Gavin mutters and turns back to his mug. Behind him, he hears Nathaniel huff a breath that sounds suspiciously like a laugh.

"I believe the word your were looking for is 'practical'.", he quips.

"Still doesn't make it less weird.", Gavin retorts, drawing another snort from the android and downs the last of his coffee. Then he gets up to put his mug in the sink.

Nathaniel rises from his spot next to the fridge as well. The cat seems to have finished her breakfast as well, because she's perched on the android's arm, front paws on his shoulder, and rubbing up against his chin. Nathaniel lets her, smiling softly.

Gavin shakes his head and snorts softly through his nose at the sight. Why she like the damn android so much, he'll never understand.

He goes to take a quick shower, checks his stitches and changes his bandages before pulling on some clothes shortly after. Both wounds look clean and seem to barely have bled during the night, so that's good.

When he steps out of the bathroom, Nathaniel is just opening the front door to let the cat out. He's already got Gavin's keys in his hand.

Gavin shrugs on his leather jacket - at least that didn't get damaged by the bullet, he loves the damn thing - and walks out the door with the android.

"Give me the keys, I'll drive." He can handle a little pain.

"...yeah, no.", Nathaniel says with a raised eyebrow, folding his fingers over the keys in a fist, "you're still recovering and I'd rather not crash on the way to the station."

Gavin glowers at him for a moment, the android looking back at him evenly, then sighs and gets into the passenger seat, grumbling under his breath.

It's too early for this shit.

Nathaniel turns on the car and pulls out of Gavin's driveway.

"I've received a notice that the results for both the in-depth analysis of the black void as well as the virus are in."

Gavin wonders for a moment if they come in like emails with a ' _ding'_ inside Nathaniel's head. He suppresses a snort. Then he sighs. He really isn't looking forward to a day of desk work.

"Hope there's at least some fuckin' answers to be found there. Like how they're getting it into the androids' systems."

"Actually, our conversation last night gave me some ideas about that."

Gavin thinks back to their talk about android physiology. As a matter of fact, he has an idea as well.

"You think they're using the maintenance ports."

Nathaniel nods.

"I told you a usb port wasn't exactly an accurate comparison, since their original purpose is stabilization and readings of the vital signs, not transferring data per se. But, it's also an easy access way to an android's system. While normally, androids are programmed _before_ they are assembled, it is sometimes used for making adjustments or correcting errors. With a modified data carrier that fits into the slot, however..."

He turns to Gavin as they stop at a red light, inclining his head a little and quirking an eyebrow. The detective brings up a hand and rubs it over the stubble on his chin in thought.

"Well, if that's how they're doing it, 'least it means we can spread the word. Maybe they can.... fuck, I don't know cover up the port or something."

The android nods again and turns his eyes back to the road.

"Even if their method turns out to be different, it's probably a good idea to spread the word, just in case. Additionally, we might want to question a few of the androids we found at the warehouse."

"Yeah."

Gavin leans his head against the window and watches buildings and people fly by.

This is going to be a long day.

"You know, you really shouldn't drink that."

"And why the fuck not?"

"Because it's your 5th cup in the last two hours, Gavin, and it's barely past noon?", Nathaniel says from across the desk with a pointed look at the styrofoam cup.

Gavin raises his eyebrows at the android before taking a - very deliberate and _very_ noisy - sip of coffee.

"Way I see it, that just means it's my _first_ cup of the afternoon."

Nathaniel sighs, shakes his head a little and raises his hands in a ' _your_ _funeral_ ' kind of gesture, before turning back to his terminal. Gavin observes him for a moment longer as he takes another sip. Put out behavior or not, the android actually looks more amused than annoyed.

The detective turns back to his own terminal as well. They spent the morning trying to find any leads that might guide them to their ominous drug baron. The fact that they haven't heard a name or even a codename for them and even Ingram hadn't mentioned them in the conversation they listened in to is not a good sign at all.

At least the Detroit police database came up with a result for the guy with the baseball cap Gavin shot in Oakwood Heights. His name was Stewart Bone. He's been marginally associated with several red ice rings before, but according to Julia's report, he's not bearing any gang tattoos or the like.

They've been going through all of the groups Bone worked with in search for one with a particular hatred for androids or any kind of connection to CyberLife, but none of them seems particularly vicious or linked to the company or its employees. Oh, most of the groups he finds hate androids one way or another, but nothing really sticks out from the usual mob.

It's frustrating really.

On the plus side, Nathaniel also talked to Connor as soon as he and Hank arrived, informing them on their suspicions about the use of the maintenance ports. From there, Connor immediately alerted his friends in the Jericho community and word has been spreading among the androids on the streets ever since.

Gavin hopes it's enough to at least prevent further kidnappings.

Right now, he's reading through a very detailed report from CyberLife's technicians on the virus used to subdue the kidnapping victims, while Nathaniel is trying to decipher the code in the notebook they found on Bone in the hopes of finding clues leading either to another warehouse or more henchmen.

From what the detective has read so far, it seems the virus completely incapacitates any and all motor functions at rapid speed, rendering the androids defenseless in a matter of seconds. Additionally, enough higher cognitive functions are affected to prevent them from being able to fight the program themselves. According to Nathaniel, the targeted models have an even harder time with fighting off viruses anyway because they're usually in the lower spectrum as far as Thirium concentration in the blue blood goes.

What really twists Gavin's stomach into knots, however, is the fact that a _lot_ of other, more basic functions, like diagnostics and even some sensory inputs appear to still be _working_.

They can't _see_ , but they can _feel_ the Thirium running down their bodies.

They can't _move_ , but they can _feel_ their biocomponents failing.

They can't _escape_ , but they can _feel_ their own death approaching.

Helpless.

Hopeless.

 _Alone_.

Gavin had really, _really_ hoped Nathaniel's comparison to a surgeon trying to kill a locally anesthetized patient would be an exaggeration. He's not even sure it's deliberate. It could just as well be laziness or too complicated programming.

His mouth twists in disgust.

Too much of a _bother_ to care what the androids can or can't feel as long as they're powerless to resist.

He gets pulled out of his head when he hears steps approach their desk.

"Reed!"

He groans inwardly when he sees Captain Fowler walking towards him with quick, angry steps. Just what he needs on this shitty day.

A fucking tirade.

"Yes? Sir?", he answers, barely remembering to school his voice into something that's somewhere in the vicinity of respectful. No need to make Fowler more irritated than he already is.

"What exactly was that yesterday? One suspect gets away and one gets killed?"

"It's not like it was on purpos-"

"Can the excuses, Reed, your objective there was to either tail or arrest Ingram, not make him fucking aware of the investigation!"

"Captain, if I may-", Nathaniel interjects.

"And you!", Fowler turns around to the android, eyes blazing. Nathaniel doesn't even bat an eye. "I thought you were supposed to be an advanced model! What the fuck where you doing, confronting them instead of following them?"

"Bone had some sort of device that can detect androids it seems. If I'd stayed behind the dresser, they eventually would've found both of us. Likewise, if Detective Reed hadn't stepped in, Ingram and Bone probably would've shot me", Nathaniel responds calmly, "And since Ingram recognized me as a police android, that would probably have meant we wouldn't have gotten anything from following them either. If anything, it's highly likely they would've found and killed him as well."

He frowns.

"His injuries, however, are a regrettable outcome. I will do my utmost to avoid a repeat of yesterday's events."

Fowler's gaze returns to Gavin. His eyes look significantly less angry now.

"How bad are they?", he asks.

Gavin shrugs.

"Could be worse. Grazing shots along my waist and right thigh. Nothin' I can't handle."

Fowler nods slowly. He levels the android with a stern look.

"I expect you to look out for an injured partner."

"That goes without saying, Captain.", Nathaniel answers without hesitation.

Gavin looks back and forth between them.

"I can take care of myse-"

"I will ensure the Detective makes a swift recovery."

"Listen, I-"

"Good."

"Can anyone here fucking hear me?", Gavin asks, throwing his hands up and rolling his eyes in frustration.

"Don't get smart, Reed", Fowler snaps at him, "It'll be good for you to rely on someone else for once.", he adds.

Before Gavin can come up with a reply to that, the captain has turned around and started walking back to his office.

When the detective turns back to Nathaniel, he sees the android's chair is empty as well.

"The hell?", he mutters under his breath.

Now that Fowler has drawn his attention to his injuries, however, he can feel pain thrumming through his leg and side.

He groans when he remembers his thoughts from this morning.

Of course he forgot to take the fucking painkillers with him.

He's just contemplating whether the walk to the infirmary across the compound is worth it, when suddenly, there's a glass of water next to his head. He looks up in surprise and sees Nathaniel standing behind his chair, water in one hand and the bottle of painkillers from his first-aid kit in the other.

"I figured you were probably too occupied with the case to remember to take them with you", he grins, as he sets both items on the desk in front of Gavin.

Any objections Gavin may have had to the android's conversation with Fowler a moment ago die on his lips.

God _dammit_.

"Thanks, nurse", he says with begrudging gratitude, takes two pills from the bottle and washes them down with a big gulp of water.

"You're welcome.", Nathaniel says graciously. Gavin can't help but feel like he's being made fun of. Again. "Once they start working, we can head to the interrogation room. Two of the androids have volunteered for questioning and they arrived about 2 minutes ago."

"Yeah."

 _A_ _nything to get away from this desk_ , Gavin thinks, and then, _I need more coffee for this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nathaniel: buT uR BLooD PrESsuRE, GAviN!!  
> Gavin is me in the mornings btw - barely functional until the first cup of coffee.  
>  ~~also me: desperately wants to write all the domestic things for these two (and the cat)~~


	9. the terror in their hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not the first time someone has thanked him and yet...  
> Maybe it's because of CyberLife's report on the virus or because of how utterly desperate the android sounds, but something about it has his skin prickling and his chest grow tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me in the last chapter: apologizes for being late with the chapter  
> me in this chapter: is immediately late again D:  
> I am so, sO sorry, again!! I had some trouble finding the right....tone? for this chapter honestly and as I mentioned before I'm also working a lot of extra hours ~~never mind finding an actual job in my field~~ and so this took way, waaaaay longer than I thought it would.  
>  But now it's finally done, so please enjoy!  
> 

A few minutes - and yet another coffee cup - later, they're walking down to the interrogation rooms.

They would've questioned the androids in the open space office, but given their recent traumatic experiences, it seemed better to talk to them away from the noise. Nathaniel made sure to send word ahead to keep the room as brightly lit as possible too, however.

As they walk, Gavin can feel the android's slightly disapproving eyes on him.

Or on his coffee, more precisely.

He just barely resists the urge to down it all in one go, but makes sure to angle his body away ever so slightly from Nathaniel, just in case he tries to grab it from his hand.

Gavin wouldn't put it past him, at this point.

_'I will ensure the Detective makes a swift recovery.'_

He hadn't even hesitated.

Gavin feels the tips of his ears burning.

It's... kind of nice, having someone look out for him.

At the same time, however, it has an uneasy feeling churn in his gut.

A tense kind of restlessness.

A not-quite kind of fear.

He pushes the thoughts aside when they arrive at the interrogation room.

Inside are two androids, seated at the table, both of them dressed in simple, casual clothes.

Gavin recognizes the one to his left as a WB200 model, the same kind Hank and Connor had a search running for way back when, with short brown hair and equally brown eyes. He's hunched over the table and Gavin thinks he can see him tremble slightly. He doesn't know what model the other android is. Her long black hair is pulled up in a high ponytail and her hazel eyes have a harsh kind of steeliness to them. In contrast to her companion, her posture is very straight and she immediately looks up when they enter the room. **  
**

On the exposed parts of both their arms, Gavin can see the knife slashes peaking out, shallow, but still visible. He frowns. Somehow, he had assumed CyberLife was gonna provide the rescued androids with new parts as well. Apparently their help only goes so far.

They sit down opposite their witnesses and Nathaniel addresses the android directly across from him. The one with the straight posture. 

"Hello, my name is Nathaniel, this is Detective Gavin Reed." Gavin nods at them in greeting, deciding to leave the talking to Nathaniel for now.

"I'm Irene, this is Matthew.", the black-haired android says, putting a hand on her companion's arm as she speaks. 

Slowly, he raises his head to look at them. His hands are fidgeting nervously.

"We were hoping you could tell us what you remember about the moment you were captured.", Nathaniel says gently, turning his head towards him.

Matthew nods and takes a deep breath, before he starts talking.

 "I was... just walking down the street. I don't remember anyone walking behind me, but then suddenly there was this... stench in the air and I heard a noise behind me, so I turned to look, but something... or some _one_ grabbed the back of my head and forced it forward."

Gavin and Nathaniel exchange a look. Seems like their theory was correct.

"Do you remember anything else about that moment?", Nathaniel asks in that same gentle tone.

"Not... not much. After that, everything went dark and I... I c-couldn't...", he takes a shuddering breath, "I couldn't see or hear anything. My arms and legs wouldn't move. There were error messages everywhere."

Matthew's voice is shaking. Irene puts a comforting hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles. He takes another breath, this one steadier than before.

"I was picked up and thrown on to some kind of hard surface that started rumbling after a while - I heard they were using a van, so it was probably that?", Gavin nods, "There were.... others around me I think, but I couldn't connect to them and I couldn't tell if they were alive either... Then they did something to my feet and I couldn't feel the ground anymore, there were just...", he swallows, "...just several alerts that I'd been damaged and then the Thirium started leaking out. I don't know how long I was there, I couldn't move and most of my functions were blocked. I was...", his voice starts shaking again and he closes his eyes for a moment, "I was so scared."

Gavin can't blame him. It's one thing to read it in a report, but to have it described as a firsthand experience like this is... unsettling, to say the least.

He turns to Irene.

"What about you? They get you the same way?"

Irene shrugs and clenches her jaw.

"Yeah, pretty much the same, right down to the terrible stench. Didn't notice 'em right until they grabbed me either and I usually watch my back a lot. 's been necessary ever since the revolution."

"I see", Nathaniel says, brows drawing together in a frown.

"Would you", he hesitates for a moment, "would you be willing to show me?", he then asks carefully.

Gavin thinks if android's could turn pale, Matthew probably would, his eyes are so wide. Irene puts a hand on his shoulder for a moment, before lifting her chin and stretching out her arm.

Nathaniel grips her forearm gently, their skin peeling back to reveal white and grey underneath, LEDs turning from blue to a steady yellow.

After a few seconds, Nathaniel sucks in a harsh breath, LED turning red for just a second before settling back on yellow. Irene gives him a grim smile.

They pull apart a moment later, the skin returning to their arms and hands.

It's quiet for a moment, both androids just looking at each other silently. Gavin glances at Nathaniel's LED, but it's a calm blue, so they're not talking telepathically either.

Then the android seems to pull himself from whatever stupor the connection put him in and he nods at both Irene and Matthew.

"Thank you", he says, quietly.

Irene waves her hand dismissively.

"We're happy to help if it helps catching those pigs.", she says through clenched teeth.

Matthew nods at her side. He seems to have calmed down a bit now and adds, "We're the ones that are grateful. If you hadn't found us..." He shakes his head, closing his eyes for a moment, then raises his head and looks at Gavin again, his eyes almost pleading. "Thank you. I hope you can find the others before it's too late."

Gavin nods, throat closing up.

It's not the first time someone has thanked him and yet... Maybe it's because of CyberLife's report on the virus or because of how utterly desperate Matthew sounds, but something about it has his skin prickling and his chest grow tight.

"We'll do our best", he answers hoarsely.

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Nathaniel watching him, a tiny, if almost sad smile playing around the corners of his mouth. Then he turns back to Irene, expression turning serious once again.

"If there's anything else you want to tell us or if you need anything, you know how to contact me now." He points a finger at his own neck. "Since we're assuming they're uploading the viorus through the maintenance port, it's probably for the best if you cover it up with something as best as you can."

Irene nods.

"We've relocated to the new Jericho camp for now and they've already told us the very same thing this morning. And no one goes out alone anymore. Safety in numbers and all that."

She and Matthew get up from their seats. Gavin and Nathaniel rise as well.

They shake hands at the door.

When Irene gets to Gavin, she squeezes his hand for a moment and whispers, "And you watch out for your partner now too, Detective. Don't you let 'em get him."

Gavin opens his mouth, but no sound comes out and all he can do is nod in response.

She squeezes his hand once more and then follows the other two androids out of the room. He shakes his head as he joins Nathaniel in the corridor. 

_The fuck is it with this day?_

Gavin and Nathaniel watch the two androids walk across the office and exit the station.

They stand outside the interrogation room for a moment longer, Gavin crossing his arms and gnawing on his bottom lip. 

"So", he says, when Irene and Matthew are out of hearing range, "what you make of all that?"

"Well, it confirmes what we suspected I believe. What has me worried, however, is that neither of them even saw or heard their attacker right up until they were close enough for the virus."

Gavin nods, frowning.

"You make any sense of that notebook yet?", he asks.

"No, none of the decryptions I tried turned up anything that made sense." Nathaniel grimaces. "Honestly, I'm not even sure it's a code anymore, our band of merry drug dealers don't really seem the type for codes _that_ elaborate. I haven't come up with anything else it could be either, though."

Gavin frowns harder, food tapping a nervous rhythm for a moment. Then he blows a harsh breath through his nose and glances at his phone.

"Fuck, it's getting late. Guess, we'll have to get back to that tomorrow then."

Nathaniel lets out a frustrated sigh as well. "Yeah."

Then he holds out his hand to Gavin.

When all the detective does in return is glower at him, he wiggles his fingers, mouth slowly turning up into a lopsided smile.

"Captain's orders, Gavin.", he says.

Gavin glares at him for another minute, then rolls his eyes and pulls his keys out of his jacket and dumps them into the android's hand, muttering under his breath about how the captain and his orders can go fuck off and how he doesn't get paid enough for this shit.

He trails after the grinning android trying to push away that same restless, uneasy feeling in his gut he had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What could the code be I wonderrrrrrr? :')  
> on another note, remember that reverse!AU I mentioned? because I uh, have started writing it, and some of my time has also been invested into planning this one out a bit more :)  
> it's called [lay bare the fire in me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15903963) and the first chapter is up, so feel free to check it out! :)


	10. the darkness in your mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "'We', huh?", Hank murmurs quietly, "Well... guess that's a start."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM ALIVE!  
> I know I'm repeating myself, but I am so, so sorry for this huge delay, I was just so busy with so many things, both job-hunting and freetime-related and I also struggled quite a lot with some parts of this chapter and even now there's some things I'm not entirely happy with v_v  
>   
> BUT WE'RE BACK!
> 
> An important note for this chapter: I've made some slight changes to the chapter where Gavin first lets Nathaniel take him home, because I felt his leg injury hadn't been quite serious enough, so now he has some stitches instead of just a bandage :')

Nathaniel stays with Gavin until the weekend and the entire week after that.

He'd expected it to feel weird, having someone essentially live with him after being so used to being on his own, but surprisingly, they fall into a comfortable routine fairly quickly.

In the evenings, the android feeds and entertains the cat while Gavin cooks or reheats his dinner. While he eats they either watch TV or listen to some music. It's still a bit weird that the android doesn't eat, but eventually, he gets used to it. 

It helps that Nathaniel is actually a good conversationalist, Gavin finds. He doesn't talk just to fill silence, but even when they're not speaking, it's never uncomfortable. **  
**

Once it starts getting late, Gavin will turn in for the night, Nathaniel bidding him off with a soft "Goodnight, Gavin.", at which he nods or mumbles his own "'night", back, before trudging up the stairs to his bedroom, some nights followed by the cat, some nights just followed by grey eyes on his back. 

_Fuckin' mother hen android._

When he gets up in the morning, Nathaniel will be waiting for him with a cup of perfect coffee, cat already munching away at her breakfast, just like that first morning.

Then, while Gavin goes to get showered and dressed, the android lets the cat outside and tidies the kitchenette, not that there's much need for it really. He also still insists to drive them to and from work still and Gavin begrudgingly lets him. It's not like there's much use in arguing anyway.

His leg has been getting better, but it still makes him hiss in pain when he strains it too much. At least he hasn't managed to pull his stitches yet, even with how much he's usually moving in his sleep.

And at long last there comes the day when Gavin only feels slight twinges of pain in his thigh and Nathaniel, instead of quickly grabbing his keys and keeping them out of Gavin's reach, holds them out to him with a small smile.

"Fuckin' finally!", Gavin grumbles and snatches them from the android's hand.

Nathaniel raises an eyebrow.

"I'm letting you drive _to_ the station. If the pain gets worse during the day, I'm driving on the way back instead."

Gavin snorts and rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever, I'll be fine."

Nathaniel chuckles quietly and turns towards the car, but just for a moment, Gavin thinks he sees something sad, almost like resignation, cross his face before he schools it back into a neutral expression. He gives it a mental shrug, deciding to focus on the joy of finally being able to actually drive his car again instead.

This is going to be a good day, he can feel it.

"I fuckin' hate this day", Gavin groans about four hours later, his forehead hitting his desk.

They've been trying to decode the notebook for almost the entirety of the last one and a half weeks and they're getting nowhere. Ever since Nathaniel brought up his suspicion that it might not be an actual code at all, they've split the task, with Nathaniel trying more and less elaborate decryptions and Gavin searching the databases for anything else the numbers might stand for. So far it's been crushingly fruitless. 

"Hey, what's wrong, Gavin?", a gruff voice asks from somewhere above him, "Someone switch your coffee to decaf again?"

He raises his head from the desk to the sight of Hank fuckin' Anderson and Connor standing in front of it, apparently just coming in to the station now. Ever since the android revolution, and even more so since Connor has started living with him, Hank has been coming to work much earlier than he used to, but he still has bad days that cause him - and by extension Connor - to arrive later than everyone else. You don't cure years of depression in just a few weeks, after all.

The androids exchange a smile and a nod, their LEDs spiraling yellow. Gavin eyes them wearily and discretely pulls his coffee cup a little closer to himself.

He rolls his eyes at the lieutenant.

"Hilarious. Everything's just fuckin' peachy", he grumbles and pointedly turns back to his terminal.

"If you need help with your evidence,", Connor starts and goddammit, Nathaniel must've fucking told him they were struggeling, "Hank and I could take a look, if you-",

"Don't you have your own cases to worry about?", Gavin interrupts him testily. His eyelid is twitching.

"Relax, Gavin, we're not trying to take yours, but even you gotta admit it can't hurt to have a fresh pair of eyes when you're stuck."

He rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, fuckin' great, thanks, but we got this, so you two princesses can fuck right off."

Connor's eyebrows twitch upwards. Barely noticable, but Gavin still catches it.

Hank tilts his head and looks at him with narrowed eyes and then over at Nathaniel. The android has been suspiciously quiet during the entire exchange. When Gavin glances at him, his eyes, directed at Connor and Hank, are slightly apologetic, but the corner of his mouth is twitching, like he's suppressing a smile.

"'We', huh?", Hank murmurs quietly, "Well... guess that's a start."

Gavin opens his mouth for a snarky retort, but it dies on his tongue when he sees the look on Hank's face. The corners of his mouth are turned up in the barest hint of a smile and he looks... he almost looks _proud_.

_Well, shit._

"...so fuckin' what?", he mumbles instead.

Hank shrugs.

"So nothing, 's just... good to finally see you relyin' a little on someone."

Gavin feels the tips of his ears turn red.

"Anyway", Hank says, "offer still stands, but we'll leave you to it for now."

And with that, accompanied by a  - mostly - good-natured clap on his shoulder that Gavin tries very hard not to move too much under, they turn to walk over to their own desks.

The detective's eyes follow them, glaring daggers into their backs, willing them to trip and faceplant into the floor, before turning back to his terminal, and the original source of his frustration.

He drums his fingers on the table for a moment, staring blankly at the numbers in front of him.

"Alright, fuck it,", he sighs, "this code is giving me a fuckin' headache. Let's go over what Irene and Matthew said again and see if there's anything else we've missed."

Nathaniel turns away from his terminal to face him, but Gavin bets he's still running decriptions in the back of his head.

"They both said they were attacked from behind and almost immediately hit with the virus..."

"...at which point their visuals and a lot of other senses blacked out", Nathaniel nods, "and they were brought to the warehouse we found in a van..."

"And then there's the stench they both smelled... any idea what that could've been?"

The android shrugs and grimaces.

"Smell information  isn't saved the same way visuals, audio or touch are", he explains, "it's much harder to translate into a reliable code, so I couldn't quite....relive it the same way I did her other senses... all I have is information on several things the smell consisted of, like garbage and sweat, but other than that..."

"Garbage and sweat, huh?", Gavin sighs, "Fuck, might just've been bad hygiene after all, I mean even our buddy Slater smelled like he'd taken a swim in the sew-"

He stops mid-sentence and looks up at the android, who's staring back at him with equally wide eyes.

Barely any traffic camera-footage.

Unnoticed kidnapping.

A bad stench.

Without a word, Nathaniel turns back to the numbers on the screen in front of him and pulls up a page showing the rows of numbers.

"Twelve.", he says quietly, "Or rather, it's not twelve at all, it's two times six!"

In the last twenty years, the more advanced technology became, the more automated and efficient the navigation systems got as well.

In all areas.

Even the canalization.

As such, instead of assigning their vehicles and androids street names or cross sections, most cities took to numbering their manholes - with six digits: two for the district, one for the up two nine areas that district could be divided into and three for the actual numerization of manholes in that area. The papers sometimes even use the district and area codes for bigger announcements, but because of the way they were written, looking more like a text than coordinates or a numbering system, neither of them made the connection.

It seems so obvious to Gavin now.

He nervously licks his lips before he looks over at Nathaniel again.

"Let's cross-check with the places androids got kidnapped or dumped.", he says hoarsely. His throat feels dry.

The android nods.

There's a moment where they just look at each other. If they're right, they can finally **-** _finally_ \- move on with their case. If not, it's straight back to square one.

As if pushed into action by some kind of inaudible signal, both of them turn back to their terminals.

For a few minutes, they both work in silence.

Then, Gavin leans back in his chair and sucks in a breath through his teeth.

They match. A lot of the numbers he tries match with manholes in the city and a lot of them are centered around areas where android's have gone missing.

And not just that.

There are several that surround the warehouse where they found Matthew, Irene and the other androids.

Gavin breathes a huge sigh of relief.

Finally. Finally they're getting somewhere again.

He starts drumming his fingers on the desk again.

"So the ones repeating themselves are where they kidnap 'em - fuckin' pick up points, if you so will - and the ones..."

"...are probably remote areas where they transfer the victims to vehicles or spots near whichever warehouse they use at the time.", Nathaniel finishes for him.

Gavin frowns.

"...fuckin' rats.", he hisses through his teeth, "No wonder we barely found any camera footage before."

Nathaniel turns back to face him, eyes wandering over his face for a moment, before settling on his eyes again.

"Should we alert Captain Fowler for a widespread search throughout the sewers, then?", he asks.

The detective shakes his head.

"Nah, not yet. I'm think we're on the right track with this, but we need to make sure they're actually down there and not using this as a kind of landmark system instead, before we alert the entire force... let's tell Tina where we're going though, and... ", he hesitates, then sighs, "...and Connor and Hank, too, I'm pretty sure no one's bothered to fuckin' set up a good phone network down there."

Nathaniel nods and gets up from his chair. **  
**

"I'll go let them know" - oh thank god, Gavin really didn't want ot have to do _that_ \- "and you can decide where we should start our search."

The detective nods as well.

"Sewers, huh?", he sighs, "Of all the fuckin' places, it just had to be the fuckin' sewers."

He turns back to his terminal to search for the nearest "pickup-point".

"Hope they at least don't stink as much as I think they do."

~~  
~~

They don't.

It smells even _worse_ than he thought.

"They couldn't have set up in a nice and cozy location, could they?", Gavin rants under his breath, "No, it had to be a fuckin' literal shithole, of fucking course!"

They're slowly making their way down the tunnel in front of them. Gavin decided to search the area where Irene and Matthew were kidnapped first, since they were among the last few androids being kidnapped.

There's a quiet chuckle behind him and Gavin turns to look at the android. He looks amused.

"How the fuck aren't you bothered by this at all?", he hisses, taking shallow breaths through his mouth.

"Unlike you, I can simply turn off my sense of smell. _And_ I don't need to breathe.", the android says smugly.

Gavin groans.

"Oh, come the fuck _on_!", he grumbles under his breath.

Nathaniel just grins his lopsided grin and shrugs not-so-apologetically.

Gavin just shakes his head and slowly feels his way along the tunnel wall... he really doesn't want to step into the actual sewer water, if he can help it and they have the flashlights turned down to a faint shimmer, just in case their kidnappers still weasel around down here. It paints faint sillhouettes on the walls, distorted shadows dancing and flickering around them.

Gavin suppresses a shudder. He both hopes it was worth making their way down here and that they can leave this place as soon as possible.

After a while of silent walking and shallow breathing, the path splits into two directions. Gavin turns his flashlight down into the left corridor and then the right.

"Well, shit, where to now?", he asks the android, "Should we split up?"

"I don't think that would be wise, no...", Nathaniel murmurs, "let's see..."

He turns his flashlight to the wall right in front of them and something in his eyes shifts.

Analyzing for clues, Gavin realizes. He turns his attention to the wall as well.

"There.", Nathaniel murmurs and points to the bottom of the wall.

Gavin squats down and squints.

On the wall, right where the tunnel wall meets the concrete of the floor, are two tiny arrows, each labeled with a set of six digits.

"Well shit, would you look at that", he murmurs, "Which number is the warehouse one?"

Wordlessly, the android points down the path to the left.

"Alright" , Gavin says, "Shall we go the other way and see where that takes us then?"

"Wait!", Nathaniel suddenly hisses, "Do you hear that?"

Gavin stops and listens intently and _oh fuck_.

There's footsteps and muffled voices drifting up the tunnel.

He hurriedly turns off his flashlight and lets Nathaniel grab his elbow and pull him around a corner to hide in the shadows.

Without any daylight filtering in, the sewers look pitch-black.

It's almost like...

...almost like...

His heart starts hammering in his chest.

_Shit._

_A cold, cramped space, and it's dark, so dark and he can't do anything and he hears screaming-_

"Gavin?", the Nathaniel whispers, "Is everything alright?"

Gavin supresses the urge to curse.

This hasn't happened in a long time and now is the worst possible timing for it.

"Fine", he grits out through clenched teeth

The voices grow closer and Gavin tries to shift his focus to them instead, but it's hard.

It's dark and it's cold and he feels trapped and as if there's not enough air. He clenches his teeth harder and tries to slow down his breathing.

_It's not real, it's not real, calm down, calm down, calm the fUCK down, you're not there_ _.  
_

"...still haven't replaced Slater and now Bone got himself fucking shot as well."

It's Ingram, talking agitatedly to whoever is with him.

"What a fucking mess. Least he didn't let himself get caught, so there's still a chance they're short on leads at least, but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before they come looking down here." 

Gavin's head is spinning and he feels nauseaous, but his lips still twist into a nasty grin.

_Yeah, might be faster than you think, moron._

Listening to Ingram rant helps him focus a little on the here and now, but he's still teetering on the edge.

A hand lands on his left shoulder, steady and surprisingly warm.

Gavin looks up.

In the darkness of the tunnel, the android's LED is all he can make out of him. He takes a shuddering breath and focuses on the soft yellow glow and the firm grip on his shoulder. 

Around the corner, Ingram and his group have stopped walking and he's started addressing his companions directly.

"...make sure they all stay clear of traffic cams this time, I don't want another Slater incident, alright? Johnson, you and Ron are in charge of gathering our caches and get them ready for transport. Cam and Ryan, get the virus usbs ready, can't risk 'em not working properly, and I-

He stops talking abruptly.

Gavin's heart skips a beat.

He prays to god Ingram doesn't have one of those android detecting things as well, or they're screwed.

_C'mon, keep talking already!_

"...I'll... get things ready for the big haul on Wednesday...", he finishes slowly, "Don't forget we're starting at 726041, 5pm on the dot. You all got that?"

There's some shuffeling and muffled affirmatives.

"I want no mistakes this time, got it? So get your asses moving!"

The footsteps start up again, Ingram and his men spreading out in different directions. Gavin and Nathaniel press themselves into the corner of the tunnel wall as much as possible when one of them walks past them. Gavin holds his breath until he's out of sight and there's just a faint echo drifting up the other paths as well and pushes slowly off the wall.

He starts when Nathaniel's hand slides off his shoulder. He hadn't even noticed it was still there.

"Well...", he says, "Guess we were fuckin' right, huh?"

Nathaniel stays oddly quiet behind him, so Gavin turns to look at the android and turns on his flashlight again.

His grey eyes are worried, LED still spiraling yellow and his brows drawn down in a frown as he looks down at the detective.

Gavin sighs. His head hurts.

"Let's just get back to the station for now."

~~  
~~

The ride back to the station is quiet.

Gavin can feel Nathaniel looking at him every now and then, but he doesn't say anything, so Gavin ignores it. Honestly, he appreciates the android not pressing the issue, but the silence also worries him a little. He just hopes it's not another case of the android putting the blame on himself again or something equally dumb.

At the station he makes a quick detour to the break room to grab himself some water, plops down into his chair at his desk. After a quick search through his drawers, he finds a bottle of aspirin and swallows two of the pills down.

He turns to look at Nathaniel, who is standing on his side of the desk. His face looks a little more relaxed and his LED is blue again, but he still hasn't quite lost the troubled expression.

Gavin takes another sip of his water.

"A 'big haul' at 726041 on Wednesday...", he starts, "Sounds like they want to kidnap more androids and in large numbers as well. Is there anything going on on that day?" 

The android nods slowly.

"There's an android gathering in that part of the city on Wednesday, to celebrate our newly granted citizenship and discuss the most pressing present issues, as well as further steps...They probably want to attack them on their way home."

"Well, I guess we have our reason to tell Fowler now... we'll definitely need a shit ton more people both above and underground."

Nathaniel nods again.

"Yes, and we should probably alert the androids attending the gathering as well. Maybe they can change locations and our android officers can take their place as... "he grimaces, "...as bait."

Gavin nods grimly.

"Yeah, good idea, then even if things do go to shit, at least they know how to defend themselves.", he says.

It's quiet for a moment, before Nathaniel tilts his head down at Gavin.

"How's your leg?"

"Barely hurts anymore.", Gavin shrugs, "I told you it was gonna be fine." **  
**

"And what about...", he leaves the sentence hanging in the air unfinished, but it's obvious enough what he's talking about.

He sighs. He feels exhausted to his bones.

"That's... Look, it was awful fuckin' timing, but it's alright now and it won't happen again, ok?

Nataniel nods, but he doesn't seem entirely convinced.

"If you say so.", he says quietly.

"I do", Gavin insists.

He finishes the rest of his water and gets up from his chair.

"Well, then, I'm feelin' about dead on my feet, time to go home.", he yawns, stretching his tired limbs and turns towards the exit of the station. 

It only takes him a few steps to notice the absence of another set of footsteps behind or next to him.

He turns back towards Nathaniel.

The android hasn't moved to follow him, looking down at his desk with the same resigned expression he wore this morning instead.

Gavin is about to open his mouth to ask what the fuck he's doing, when it suddenly hits him.

_'Thank you again for letting me stay here, Detective.'_

_'Yeah, don't get used to it.'_

_'I would never.'_

Well, shit.

Guilt gnaws at Gavin's stomach.

Nathaniel obviously thought he was only allowed to stay until Gavin's leg had recovered. That he was still being a bother, when really, Gavin doesn't mind that much.

Hasn't minded for a while.

But because he's Gavin and he's shit with words, has always been shit with this kind of thing, he hasn't said that out loud.

Doesn't say it out loud now either.

Instead, he clears his throat.

"Nate?"

Nathaniel slowly lifts his head to look at him.

His LED is spinning yellow, yellow, _red_ , yellow.

Gavin raises his eyebrows.

"You comin'?", he asks, expectantly.

The android's eyes widen.

Blue.

"I...yes?"

Phrased like a question.

Gavin resists the urge to hit his own head aganst the nearest wall and raises his hands in a _'_ _well?'_ gesture instead.

And then Nathaniel _smiles._

Not one of those half-smiles he likes to do, but a real one, wide and blinding, eyes crinkling at the corners.

Gavin's breath catches in his throat and his stomach lurches like he's missed a couple of steps on the stairs.

_Oh._

He turns back around quickly, hoping his face isn't too red in the dim light of the empty station.

"Let's go already then", he mumbles, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck and heads for the exit again.

Behind him, he hears the android's footsteps echo his own, barely audible over the heavy thumping in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Connor, wiping a single tear from their eyes: look at our angry boi, finally growing up and becoming social  
> Gavin: ....  
> ...can you guess I really really love writing all the domestic fluff for these two idiots?  
> also I am very much looking forward to writing the next chapter, it's something I've been waiting to write for quite some time now~ ;D  
> If you enjoyed this, please consider leaving me a comment. <3  
> If you want to follow me on other channels, you can find me as macccachino on twitter and tumblr (though the latter is a lot more quiet than twitter nowadays) as well, just make sure it's spelled with 3 cs :)


	11. the light of the stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What happened down there, if you don't mind me asking?", Nathaniel's voice pulls him from his thoughts, Gavin lets out a harsh breath through his nose and lifts a hand to scratch behind the cat's ears. "You don't.... have to tell me though", Nathaniel adds when the detective stays quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello y'all!!  
> Finally, I get to update this again :) I'm sorry it's coming along so slowly, but between two jobs and a lot of other things like streaming and art and keeping my social life... alive I haven't the time to write as much as quickly as I used to...  
> But anyway, we finally get to a part I've been looking forward to write for quite some time now!  
> Please enjoy!  
> (please excuse spelling and grammar mistakes, I have not had time to properly edit it yet but I wanted to post it ^^")

The drive back home is quiet, neither of them saying a word, though Gavin can feel Nathaniel sneak a look at him every now and then from the drivers seat. He'd insisted on driving and Gavin had been to drained to fight him.The whole thing had given him a weird sense of déjà-vu.

The detective keeps his eyes steadily on the road in front of them, head leaned against the window. He tells himself it's just so he won't have to see the worried look in the android's eyes and nothing else.

Nothing else.

When they arrive at Gavin's house, it's dark already. He stops for a moment in front of the door and looks up at the moon and stars twinkling down at them. Next to him, he feels the android's eyes on his face again. Before he can say anything, the detective just sighs and unlocks the door.

As he walks down the hallway, Gavin is acutely aware of Nathaniel's presence behind him, every step of his feet on the hardwood floor, every rustle of fabric, every artificial breath. He turns right as soon as he reaches the living room and starts up the stairs to his bedroom.

The footsteps behind him stop.

Halfway up the stairway, Gavin turns around to see Nathaniel stand at the stairs, looking up at him with slightly drawn brows.

Gavin nods his head in the direction of the roof.

"Come with me.", he says, quietly, "I wanna show you something." The android's eyebrows draw together even further, but he starts climbing the stairs after Gavin. When he reaches his room, the detective grabs the ladder, opens the window and climbs out onto the platform.

Once he's up on the planks, Gavin sits down cross-legged, waiting for the android to follow him. Sure enough, Nathaniel's head appears over the rim of the platform as he hoists himself onto the wood, opposite from Gavin.

For a moment, neither of them moves. Then Gavin raises his hand and points up at the night sky. Nathaniel, who's been watching him expectantly, raises his head and looks up.

And Gavin can _see_ the way the artificial breath stutter in the android's chest as he takes in the myriad of stars above them. A smile slowly spreads across Nathaniel's face again and something in Gavin's chest pulls tight. He balls his hands into fists in his lap to keep himself from reaching out.

He can't, he can't, he can't.

"This is what you wanted to show me?", Nathaniel asks, still gently smiling at the sky.

"Yeah", Gavin rasps and clears his throat. He lets himself fall backwards when he can't take it anymore, crossing his arms behind his head. "Pretty fuckin' nice, huh?" The android makes a small noise of agreement and scoots forward on the platform until his legs are hanging over the edge and he's sitting right next to Gavin's head.

For a while, both of them are just gazing at the nightsky without saying a word. 

Gavin smiles when he hears a tell-tale "mrrw" on his left and the cat jumps gracefully down from a tree and onto the roof.

She approaches them quickly, paws a pitter-patter across the tiles, bumps her tiny head into Nathaniel's hand and along his back before, much to his surprise, she curls up on Gavin's stomach, purring contentedly. Perhaps she senses his inner unrest, Gavin muses.

"You know, you really should name her", Nathaniel says, grinning. Gavin just gives a noncommittal grunt in response. They fall back into silence, the only sounds the wind rustling through the trees and purr of the cat.

Then Gavin takes a deep breath and sighs.

"I'm sorry", he starts, clipped and clenching his jaw, "In the sewers today. That shouldn't have... It wasn't supposed to happen and it almost got us royally fucked."

Nathaniel looks down at him. He doesn't look angry, or even disappointed, just curious and slightly worried.

Gavin isn't sure if that's maybe worse. He knows how to deal with anger or disappointment. This, however...

"What happened down there, if you don't mind me asking?", Nathaniel's voice pulls him from his thoughts, Gavin lets out a harsh breath through his nose and lifts a hand to scratch behind the cat's ears. "You don't.... have to tell me though", Nathaniel adds when the detective stays quiet.

"No", Gavin says immediately, "It almost fucked everything up today and...", he tilts his head up at the android, "you have a right to know."

Nathaniel nods hesitantly and Gavin turns his eyes back towards the nightsky.

"When I was 10 years old, my mother was killed."

The android shifts a little in his seat.

"But you know about that already.", Gavin adds, "Figured you would, you saw the photo after all."

Nathaniel's head whips around to him.

"Yeah, I know", Gavin smiles a little, "You put it back into the book, but you didn't put it in the right place." His smile turns whistful. "Poirot making it clear he knows exactly what happens and yet choosing to look the other way, that was her favorite part of the book. Choosing to follow the moral law instead of the written one, she loved that.", he laughs a little, "She was way better at seeing the good in people than I am, much more forgiving, too."

"She sounds like a wonderful person", Nathaniel says quietly. "Yeah.", Gavin agrees. **  
**

He sighs when he sees the guilty expression on Nathaniel's face. "I figured you'd find out sooner or later... Most people on the force know and you're a fuckin' investigative android, so it makes sense you'd have access to the file... but when the photo was in the wrong place, I knew for sure."

"I didn't read it.", Nathaniel speaks up suddenly. Gavin looks at him, surprised. "You didn't?" The android shakes his head. "I...yes, I saw the photo and I saw that there was a homicide report under her name, but I didn't open it."

"Huh." Surprise and something warm spread through Gavin's stomach. "Thanks", he adds, more quietly. Nathaniel smiles and rubs a hand over his neck, seemingly embarrassed. It's... it's fuckin' cute  is what it is, and the realization hits Gavin like a punch to the gut. "I didn't want to pry and... It was your story to tell."

"Well, there's one thing the report doesn't tell you about anyway unless you read a bit between the lines. May not agree with Fowler on all his decisions, but this I'm fuckin' grateful for..." Gavin sighs again. "I was there, when it happened."

He doesn't look at Nathaniel when he says it, doesn't want to see the shock, the worry or even worse, pity on his face.

"Back then we lived in a shitty apartment, walls like paper, shitty electricity, even shittier heating. Never had much money to spare either, and her remaining relatives save for my Grandaunt are pretentious assholes she couldn't, or wouldn't ask for help. But we made it work, _she_ made it work.

"One day, someone broke into our apartment... Just some random junkie desperate for money. Don't know why the fuck he thought he'd find it in that part of town or in our apartment of all fuckin' places, but there he was, all but breaking down our front door.

"She had me hiding in our storage room and locked it. It was pitch black in there, pretty damn cold, and cramped too. I couldn't see shit, I... fuck I could barely move and I couldn't...", he breaks off with a shuddering breath, "I couldn't get out to help her either. I was scared shitless.", he lets out a humorless laugh,"S'ppose a scrawny kid like me wouldn't have been able to help much anyway... I could hear them arguing through the door though. She tried to convince him that there was nothin' to be found in our shitty apartment and that he should just go, but I think the fucker was too far gone to care. Kept screaming at her to give him all she had or he was gonna butcher her with his knife and then when what she had wasn't enough he told her to unlock the storage, She refused and then... I heard her scream through the door and I couldn't fuckin'..." he stops himself again, clenching his jaw.

"They found me in there eventually... And after that I just got passed around from relative to relative until I got left this house by my Grandaunt and was old enough to live here on my own. Joined the force as soon as I could after and well here I am. Swore to myself, I was never gonna be that fuckin' helpless again.""

He falls silent.

After a moment, a hand, slightly awkwardly angled, touches his shoulder mimicking the same gesture from before, in the sewers. When he looks up, Nathaniel's face shows neither pity nor resentment. Instead, the android's eyes are serious and filled with quiet understanding.

"Thank you for telling me."

Gavin averts his eyes. The lurching feeling in his stomach is back. He shrugs as well as he can laying on the planks and somehow manages to mumble a "Sure." He clears his throat. "Anyway, I'll... try not to let it happen again. Wouldn't do to fuck this all up now."

Nathaniel's hand is still gently gripping his shoulder.

"Even if it does happen again... you managed to fing your way back here again, didn't you? You can do it again.", he says confidently.

"Yeah", Gavin croaks out, "I did, didn't I?"

_Because of you,_ he doesn't say. **  
**

The android nods.

"It'll be fine, Gavin", his fingers brush against Gavin's face when he releases his shoulder.

He has to bite his cheeks to keep himself from moving after them.

"Yeah", he then repeats through a yawn.

They lapse back into comfortable silence, just watching the stars and listening to the quiet sounds around them. After a while, Gavin feels his eyelids grow heavy with exhaustion. His fingers still where they're buried in the cat's fur. His breathing deepens. And because he's pathetic and hopeless, he doesn't fight it when his head tilts to the side and his forehead gently hits Nathaniel's thigh.

He's not sure if he imagines the fingers brushing the hair from his forehead before he falls asleep.

**  
**

When Gavin falls silent, Nathaniel's thoughts start to wander. **  
**

He thinks about what he just heard. It explains a lot really. Why Gavin likes to work alone and seems to find it hard to ask for help, why he doesn't try to really become close with anyone, even keeping something as simple as a cat at a distance by not naming it.

He shakes his head a little, smiling to himself.

After a few minutes, he feels something bump into his thigh. He looks down. Gavin's eyes are closed, his breathing slow and deep. He smiles again. In sleep, all the lines on Gavin's face are smoothed out, expression completely free of anger and worry, hair slighly fanning over his forehead.

Curious, Nathaniel reaches out with his hand and brushes the brown strands away from the detective's forehead. They feel soft between his fingers. Gavin makes a soft noise in the back of his throat and even slightly turns into the motion.

Nathaniel feels his lips part slightly. As if compelled by something, he gently runs his fingers through Gavin's hair again. And again. He's not sure why, but he can't stop himself from doing it, and even more so, he doesn't _want_ to stop.

His thoughts wander as he studies the sleeping detective's face. Back to the day they first met. It makes more sense now, why this case seemed to affect Gavin so much. The kidnapped androids must've reminded him of his own helpless young self.

Nathaniel frowns when a completely different thought swims to the surface. Back then, he'd wondered why Gavin seemed to resent androids so much even though he clearly was caring about the victim's fate. His fingers still for a moment. He wonders if he still does.

His eyes travel up to the detective's closed eyes. What does he see when he looks at Nathaniel?

The android sighs a little and after brushing his fingers through Gavin's hair one last time, gently pulls his hand away again, turning his eyes back to the nightsky.

It really is beautiful.

Another thing he wouldn't have expected of Gavin. Another thing he didn't know about him. 

The android huffs a quiet laugh.

He finds he quite likes learning new things about Gavin.

Speaking of the detective, he should probably wake him up soon, so he can eat something before it gets too late. He turns his eyes away from the stars again, back to the Gavin's peaceful face, over to where the cat is snoring away on his stomach and back to his face. His brow twitches ever so slightly and his lips part around a sigh and Nathaniel finds he can't look away.

He decides to let him rest just a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Nathaniel muttering to themselves: he likes me, he likes me not, he likes me, he likes me not....  
> .  
> hmmmm, our boys are slowly realizing some things.... :D  
> Also fun fact: I drew that art months ago because I was looking forward to this scene so much (um, excuse the wonkiness in some places, it's... been a while), only in the first version, Nathaniel was wearing his jacket :)  
> Hope you enjoyed that, if you did, tell me about it in a comment or leave me some kudos and I will love you forever! And if you want to yell at me about 900Reed or just... anything really, feel free to follow me on twitter.com/macccachino  
> <3

**Author's Note:**

> If you've enjoyed this, please consider leaving me a comment, they make me incredibly happy <3  
>   
> you can find me on twitter.com/macccachino - come yell at me about 900Reed :D


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